Day 3 in Iceland

After a little bit of a restless sleep, we finally started off the day around 10am. Dad didn´t have to work today, so we hopped in the car and headed to the southern area of Iceland. As this is my 3rd time in the country, I have seen most of the sites we are planning on visiting~ but this part of the country is new to me as well so I was excited to finally see something different!!

The visit has been pretty cloudy thus far and extremely windy, so it was nice when we FINALLY started driving toward some blue skies and sunlight. Our first stop was Selialandsfoss at the base of the Eyjafjallajökull glacier (the volcano that erupted here in 2010~ read more about that later on). We arrived and it was VERY cold and WINDY. Of course, that wouldn´t stop us. This waterfall had a great walking path that took you behind the waterfall as well. Absolutely beautiful. I really enjoyed when the wind picked up and gave us a really cold shower... kidding, of course... BRR!!

After returning to the car and getting the feeling back in our fingers, we were off to waterfall #2 of the day~ Skogafoss. This waterfall was much larger. There were a set of steep stairs that went all the way to the top of the waterfall~ of course this looked like a good idea at the time... wow I´m still so out of shape! We finally reached the (very windy) top and were able to look down on the waterfall and the views~ amazing!! They had a ladder you could climb to get over a fence and there were many people off in the distance hiking. Dad said it is about an 8 hour hike into the glacier area and is quite the workout. Maybe someday!

Thankfully, the climb down was much easier and we walked to the base of the fall. Brett decided to get as close as he could to the waterfall and came back a tad wet. ;) Thank goodness for the hood on my jacket because I had the ´´wet dog´´ look going on!!

We drove further along the southern coast of Iceland and at LAST we found some SUN!!! We stopped in Vik Myrdal for some lunch. Brett got a yummy lamb stew and the rest of us had hamburgers. It was delish!

Dad said that Vik is famous for making lots of socks. We went to the store right next to where we ate lunch and Brett bought me a cute Icewear (Icelandic brand) hat. He purchased a beanie as well. 

On the way back out of town, we stopped at Reynisfjara~ a beautiful black sand beach with BIG rocks out in the water. Reminded me of Cannon Beach back in Oregon. What a work out for the legs walking on this beach!! I think when most people picture Iceland, they dont imagine the beautiful miles and miles of coastline and beaches. It truly is breathtaking and spectacular. Brett said if we didnt do anything the rest of the trip, he would be happy after today. Lucky for him- there is LOTS more to still see.

There were large basalt columns that Brett wasted no time running up and conquering. ;) We also found a pretty cool cave behind the columns. Brett and dad decided to explore further and got some pretty amazing pictures along the coastline. We all actually got so warm we started removing our hats and jackets... almost swimsuit weather.... almost!

Nearly beat, but not wanting to miss a thing, we stopped at the Eyjafjallajökul museum on our way home. This is a small museum started by some farmers who live at the base of the Glacial Volcano. We were able to watch a 20 minute video (thankfully in English) from this families perspective about the eruption in 2010. The video showed their lives before the eruption, during the evacuation, and finally returning to their farm. Due to it being a glacial volcano, the major threat is floods due to the volcano being covered in ice. During the evacuation, the family had to leave behind enough food for their cattle to eat for 4 days, and they also had to bring all the horse into the barn in hopes they would receive enough oxygen to live through the ash fall.

When the volcano erupted, ash made its way toward Europe and halted ALL air traffic for 2 weeks. The family soon returned to their home and began cleaning up from the ash fall. The hot water pipes were damaged and this was their first priority to repair, along with restoring electricity to their home. Once the clean up was complete, life went back to normal. The family said they didn´t have to use fertilizer for a full year because the ash did such wonderful things for their crops. Amazing story, and we were lucky enough to meet the farmers wife at the museum.

With the glacial volcano in the background (and the farm from the documentary film).

A wonderful day indeed. Dad made us some soy chicken with rice and coleslaw once we got home and we watched some world cup soccer. More adventures for tomorrow, but likely staying in town. Goodnight for now!!