Iceland - Day Three

We didn’t get up and out as early as I was hoping to but Rick was having headaches and problems most likely stemming from a lack of sleep so that was more important.  He went to bed with a cool washcloth laid over his eyes and was snoring in no time.  So when we awoke at 8ish it was a good thing.  I did then, however, start pushing him to move ahead, get that shower, eat, etc. so we could get out before noon.

We had our buffet breakfast and headed toward Vik.  We retraced some of our travels from the night before and then we were in fresh territory.  One of the first new towns we passed through was Selfoss and I found a Kingdom Hall!  Rick doesn’t have to be told any more, he just pulled over.  It was a little baffling, though.  It was 10:30 on a Sunday morning and there were no footsteps or car tire tracks in the snow that had fallen overnight.  There wasn’t a sign so I couldn’t see when the meetings were held.


After passing the town of Hella we turned off the road toward Keldur.  It was a nice side road and we stopped and met some horsies.  I’m gonna call them horsies because they are small horses yet the people here get offended if they are referred to as “ponies”, yet being so small it’s hard to call them horses.  So horsies it is.  The ones we stopped to meet were wonderful!  They were clean and friendly.  We got to the Keldur area and found our first old sod house so popular here in past times.  We found out on our tour that they opted to use sod on top of wooden frames because they had cut down all the trees and hadn’t enough wood any more to build with.  They also used rock but the roofs mostly were what the sod covered.  The little place in Keldur was very small and situated right on a creek so it wasn’t a house.   Rick thinks it may have been a bath house.  I dunno.  (apparently we missed the main attraction here, some of the oldest houses in Iceland, I'll have to take better notes the next time!)

As we left that area and headed back out to the Ring Road as they call the main highway that circles the island we spotted some horsies playing.  They were rearing up and running and just having a good time.  We just had to stop and shoot the fun! 

Then it started to snow.  It got serious enough at one point that I was thinking we wouldn’t be able to complete our quest to reach Vik.  But Rick felt OK and we trudged on.  He was right, we went through rain, snow, graupel, and everything in between.  As we reached Vik it cleared and we had sunshine!

Before we got to Vik though we passed a neat waterfall, Seljalandfoss (all the waterfalls end with “foss”) and then another old homestead.  We’d planned to stop and see Skogafoss but decided to just shoot for Vik.  We’re so glad we did.  It was the strangest place to find in Iceland.  It was a beautiful black sand beach with rock structures in the water similar to our Washington coast “haystacks” and then we found the cliffs made of basalt columns.  I’m glad I researched all that because we never would have even known it was all there if I hadn’t.  It was the best part of the day.  We had to do a lot of exploring to find it all. Then Rick saw some other things that piqued his interest and we had to go find them too, all the while getting different shots of the beaches I just described.  We ended up on top of a cliff to see a lighthouse.  The car was rocking in the wind when we parked.  When we got out and attempted to walk toward the lighthouse it was blowing so hard I honestly didn’t think I could do it.  But I found a method and got out there.  It was a crazy drive up a switch-backed dirt road covered in places with snow but we feel that if you don’t make the effort to go the distance you miss the best stuff.


We tanked up the car (approx $7.50 / gallon!) in Hvosvollur, then continued on to Hella and tanked up ourselves; we got a beer, that is…



Then the drive got fun.  We hit some snow and the wind was fierce, so much so that even at 50mph the snow in the headlights was still going sideways.  It wasn’t sticking to the road, for the most part, but there were occasional patches of snow inches thick and yards around, so when you hit one of those doing 50 it was scary.  We had to knock the speed down a bit.  Having just had a pint of beer though, I quickly had to go to the bathroom.  It got worse, the snow and the need to pee at the same time, my need was becoming painful.  I finally told Rick to just pull off.  He found a side road with a spot to easily turn around and I relieved myself in all that wind and snow!  I was laughing hysterically when I got back in the car – it was such a weird thing to do!  Hey – everyone’s gotta go sometime!

2 cats hacked up hairballs:

Melinda March 15, 2011 at 11:54 AM  

Yaay, the headache is gone! The Icelandic horses are actually highly coveted here. Small as they are, I guess they can really pull a good sized carriage! If you bring one back and sell it, it would pay for your trip and them some!!

GREAT blog - The 2nd blog was terrific too! The breakfast buffet sounds delicious .

I wonder if they have any nudist colonies, oh, I mean parks in Iceland? The guys would all look like Ken dolls.

Melinda

Maggie March 15, 2011 at 5:10 PM  

Very interesting photos, Suzie. Love the fuzzie horsie.

About Me

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After 2 unsuccessful marriages I spent 12 years as a divorcee, only to fall prey to another man's wiles. We had a fun 5 years together and then he decided he wanted more freedom so once again I'm single.

So I'm freshly divorced at 57 and have 5 great kids and now 7 grandkids. My kids are still a major part of my life but I'm busy helping my aging parents on Kauai.

I've lived in California, Hawaii and Oklahoma before finally settling here in Washington. I love Washington and come back to visit family, friends and take care of my garden often but will be temporarily a resident of Kauai.

I've moved 30 times in my life (no, my parents weren't in the service, at least not since I was about 2) and finally planted roots when I got my little house that I've owned since '91.

My family are Jehovah's Witnesses, I've been one since '72.