Day 5 – Back into the Nap Trap

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This was the last day of our South Ring road trip. We were up and ready for breakfast by 8 am as we had another long day of traveling ahead of us back to Reykjavik. Stephan was an excellent guide and we were looking forward to hearing more Icelandic stories. Or so we thought. Let’s just say that by the end of the day it seemed like he was reaching for things to say and his so called sagas were dragging on and were not that interesting.

We first started out going back to Glacier Lagoon. If it wasn’t too cold or if the weather was nice we were going to take a trip on the boat through the lagoon. How funny is that, if the weather is nice; what we were thinking? We are in Iceland. But since the sun was not out, the colors were incredible. It was starting to rain a little bit and of course it was really cloudy, but it did bring out the blues in the ice. The icebergs were just floating in the water and it looked unreal. It was like we were looking at a completely different lagoon than the day before. We learned that several movies have been filmed in the Glacier Lagoon. Die Another Day and Laura Croft Tomb Raider both had scenes filmed there. Judy was on a quest to see several events here in Iceland: the national museum; check; the geysers, check; the national park, check; the whales, check; the Icelandic horses, check; the Golden Falls, check; the glacier, check; and seeing a big chunk of ice fall off an iceberg in Glacier Lagoon, CHECK! We kept telling her the likelihood of seeing this was VERY low. Our guide has never seen a huge sheet of ice fall from one of the bergs and as we were standing there looking over the lagoon, a massive section of ice from one of the bergs right in front of us just dropped into the water. It was loud and very cool to witness. We stayed at the lagoon for about 30 minutes and with the weather getting worse we decided to move on.

After another long drive we headed to a black volcanic sand beach. It had a beautiful view of the ocean with amazing cliffs. Judy and Kirsten also got a nice view of some lady, one of the old people on the old people bus tours, drop her pants and pee right behind a rock. However, she wasn’t really behind the rock but out in the open. Lovely. Knowing that this group was headed to the grill for lunch right after this stop, we hurried to beat them so we could get our lunch in before 75 old people. Victory. As well they kept trying to get Gene and Judy on the bus. After lunch back in the car and this time we were hoping to be able to snowmobile on the glacier. Our excursion was canceled yesterday because of weather. We made it right at 2:30 to the outfitter and trips were on today. Yeah. Our guide on the glacier was again, amazing. The people of Iceland are truly genuine and nice. Their English is well spoken and easily understood. He explained all we needed to know about the snowmobiles and then we were off. Well, the guide, then Gene and Judy on one mobile were off, Kirsten and Chester quickly tipped the snowmobile right out of the gate. It was probably a new record of fastest tourists tipping a machine. Of course Kirsten drove; Chester won’t even drive a scooter, so there was no way she was going to take on a snowmobile on a glacier in Iceland. So the girls got that out of the way and the rest of the ride was, in a word, amazing. We rode up the glacier and as we did, it started to get sunny. And more sunny, and then ahhhhhhhh, the sun was out. Incredible. Our guide couldn’t believe it. We stayed on top of the glacier for a while because the guide said it had been so long since he had seen the sun that he wanted to stay up there. It was crazy windy up there but with the sun shining down it didn’t matter. Then we did happen to spot the elusive arctic fox. Well there were two arctic foxes: Kirsten and Chester. Oh yeah!!! He explained how the glacier is growing longer every year. The snow comes down and compresses the glacier that’s how it grows longer. Kirsten and Chester made some snow angels as well. The snowmobile trip was definitely a highlight.

The snowmobile excursion was the last event on our trip along the southern ring. It was back into the nap trap for more of Stephan’s sagas. The girls in the back were asleep quick. It wasn’t our fault. His voice just knocks you out.

We made it back to Reykjavik around 7:30 and had 9 pm dinner reservations. This 24 hours of light is brutal. It is really hard to wind down and get ready for bed. We had one day left in the capital city so it was off to bed at the Erik the Red Guest House. Ohh, did we mention the owner of the place is a communist. Gene found that out pretty quickly when he saw a statue of Mao on the wall. Gene told the owner that he was a capitalist and that they should talk sometime. Fortunately the owners left early the next morning for a trip to Germany so that conversation never happened and we got to stay another night.

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Photos

Iceburg
Just as it is falling

Gene and Judy
Not as old as they look!!

Comments

[Kate]

Punch
Grey one piece! Punch!

[Girls Gone Galapagos]

Kate
We already beat each other up while getting dressed.