Our last full day in Iceland, we headed north to explore some of the interior of Iceland. Our main goal was to see the waterfall at Haifoss, but when we found the turn-off to the small road, there were signs that indicated the road was closed due to mud from the warm weather thawing the ground. We also encountered a couple of guys hiking out that road who flagged us down and said their car had gotten stuck and were hoping we could help tow them out. We didn't have a rope (and anyways, didn't want to get stuck ourselves). We offered to let them use our cell phones, as well as to give them a ride, but they declined. They also didn't want to call emergency services because they didn't want to get fined for going down a road they weren't supposed to. So after discussion, they decided to wait and see if someone else willing to give them a tow would come by, and we continued on a few miles.
The landscape was very moonlike -- rocky and barren in most places, with some snow here and there. We stopped at a hotel/restaurant/gas station combo that was the only place for miles for lunch, called the Highland Center in Hrauneyjar. Afterwards, we divided up: Matt, Allie, and Paul went exploring on their way back, while Mom, Dad, Charlotte, and I headed back to the AirBnb. While exploring, the Danzigs and Paul found an area where they could run around on the peaty soil, which they said felt quite bouncy under their feet! Paul was also excited that when they stopped for gas, they saw a sign advertising a St Louis Sandwich (whatever that means). In related news, we found some chips at a gas station that were Ranch flavored -- but described as "Cool American Flavor!"
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| View from our AirBnb |
That night was the clearest night we had while we were in Iceland -- so most of the night was spent with all the lights off in the house while Paul, Dad, and Matt attempted to use their various cameras to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights. The distant, small town of Selfoss seemed so bright in the dark night. Paul did get a picture or two with a faint greenish glow in the sky -- but nothing definitively aurora-like. A disappointment for sure, but the rest of the trip made up for the lack of aurora sightings.
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| The lights of Selfoss at night |
The next morning, we awoke to quite a bit of snow that had fallen in the early morning hours! Charlotte convinced Paul, and later Matt, to spend time outside with her in the windy cold to play in the snow. Good troopers, those guys! We spent the rest of the morning packing up, then headed off toward the airport. Luckily we saved a lot of time, because we hit a big snowstorm heading back across the mountain between Selfoss and Reykjavik! It was near white out conditions for awhile, while we followed the tracks of the car in front of us. We saw plenty of cars and buses that had skidded off the road, which wasn't very comforting. But our rental cars (led by the fearless Allie driving the front car) stayed strong and we made it through safely. It was definitely a bit scary.
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| Charlotte checking out the snowfall |
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| View of the drive to Reykjavik! (yikes) |
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| Getting better visibility now. |
Once we got to the airport, we all checked in and ate some lunch while waiting for our flights. Because we all had separate flights (to San Francisco, Baltimore, and London), we had to get there pretty early and then had a relatively long time to wait in the airport. But the time passed surprisingly quickly, and we had time to visit a gift shop and get some souvenirs with our remaining Icelandic krona. Our return trip was uneventful and we were back to England by late evening.
