We always sleep well the night after a red-eye flight, and this trip was no exception.
We just loved our little airbnb. Cocoa Puffs and Muu milk. We needed a sugar hit.
We drove to Jökulsárlón which was around 2 1/2 hours from Vik. It was raining and sleeting the whole day, so we knew we were in for a wet day.
Jökulsárlón is a beautiful glacier fed lake surrounded by black sand and rock and full of icebergs.
It was freezing, but we had a blast skipping rocks (and trying to land them on the ice chunks) and making big splashes with bigger rocks.
The bridge in the distance is the main highway that rings the island. Just on the other side of that bridge the outlet of the lake enters the North Atlantic Ocean.
We drove over to the beach on the ocean. Kate and Lyla were too cold to get out of the car again, so Ada could eat her dead fish in peace.
Licking the beautiful ice chunks.
A cold day for bridals and engagement photos, eh?
The main highway around Iceland is on the lower plains between the highlands and the ocean. All along the edge of these highlands are so many waterfalls. Every kilometer or two we were crossing a river that naturally had a waterfall as it traveled down from the highlands. It was stunning.
We don't know what this place is or how to say it, but we were enamored by the place-names.
The above picture is an example of the waterfalls from the rain. It is difficult to see in the picture, but there were more than 20 separate waterfalls on this face of mountain alone. So incredible.
Doesn't the picture above just scream ICELAND! We couldn't believe that we were actually here.
I believe that jökull is glacier, but you're on your own to translate the rest of that sign.
This was a big park and visitor's center with hiking and glacier tours. We were just looking for restrooms and a snack.
Lots more waterfalls.
Some people even get a private waterfall.
Now the snow started coming down in earnest.
We took a short muddy hike to an overlook of Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon. I wanted to fly my drone over the canyon, but it was way too windy (which would turn out to be the story of our trip).
Another view of Fjaðrárgljúfur (don't ask me how to say it).
💩 is not allowed.
We took a walk through the mossy lava fields of Eldhraun. The moss was spongy and a few inches deep. Once again Lyla and Kate stayed behind in the car. As we were in the safest country in the world (and we often had these areas to ourselves) we gave them a pass.
Incredibly as we neared Vik the weather started to clear up and we were offered some beautiful views.
We weren't planning on it, but we had to take advantage of the sunlight when it appeared, so we drove another 20-30 minutes past Vik to visit Skógafoss (foss means waterfall). This is one of the most famous waterfalls in Iceland. The amount of water and the height is an awesome sight.
Oddly enough, there were some strange animals there too.
We ate dinner at a restaurant right at Skógafoss. I'm sure that I'll mention it a time or two, but we were shocked at the food prices. Our average meal was $80-$100 for the family, and that was usually trying to eat on the cheap and share entrees.
We returned to Vik to sleep. Tomorrow we visit a black sand beach, a hot geyser-fed pool and more waterfalls.
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