Iceland Day 2

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Day 2: Iceland 

I woke up yesterday morning to a day with a lot of promise.  No real set plans, other than to spend the night in Reykjavik.  We had a rental car, a beautiful, sunny day, and Iceland to explore.  We browsed the guide book and decided to hit a large waterfall destination, along with a few geysers.  We would leave Isafjordur and head further north and west, seeing the remainder of the fjords we weren't able to see on our way up.  Then we would head south back to reykjavik, cutting east to see the geysers.  This route proved to be very circuitous and slow, and though I love rocks, even I have seen enough glacially carved inlets to last me a while. 

The waterfall was called dynajandi and was absolutely breath taking, just like the rest of Iceland.  We hiked around, took exactly 1 billion pictures then returned to the car and continued on our destination.  

Now, I need to include something about Icelandic roads, or lack there of.  We had rented a Mazda 3, big enough for 4 of us, a great little cruising car.  What we didn't know was that Iceland only has a few paved roads, mainly the large ring road that circles the island.  All other "roads" are gravel or dirt with pot holes and large stones.  Some roads you cant even take normal cars on.  If this wasn't bad enough to handle, you literally weave in and out of mountain sides with loose gravel and no guard rail.  It's pretty terrifying.  You can never see on coming cars, which are more like monster trucks, with huge ass tires and a raised body.   Most of the roads are single lanes, so when a monster truck is bearing down on you, you are forced to pull off on the side and hope you don't slip down the face of the mountain into the north atlantic.   I know I can be dramatic, but this is not one of those times.  These roads are no joke.  

We continued on our journey, seeing the usual snow capped mountains, oceans, wild flowers, and sheep.  I got some black sand, from one of the numerous black sand beaches, as a souvenir.  (Literally the only souvenir I could afford as this place is uber expensive.)  And then we continued. And continued.  It seemed as if the ride  was never going to end.   For a trip where I thought I wouldn't be in a car very often, I was in the car for two damn straight days.  On our way to the geyser, we passed through Pingvellin national park, apparently a historic park where Vikings held parliament meetings.  It looked the same as the rest of the island.    Except we saw about 5 different rainbows.  No double rainbow though....Of course the road to the geyser was closed, and the next closest way there added another hour onto our trip.  So we decided to turn around and head back to Reykjavik.  

We arrived in reykjavik at 8:30 pm after leaving Isafjordur at 10:00am.  It was entirely way too long of a day in the car, but we saw some pretty "bitchin" waterfalls.  ( Thank you Stewart for the describing word I wouldn't normally use.)   we had dinner at this Icelandic restaurant, where I ordered a lobster sandwich and 2 full alcohol Viking beers.  Justin ordered the sampler platter which included whale, that I wouldnt let him get, haggis (a liver and other discarded  animal parts- patty), dried fish (supposedly used to clean your teeth), lobster, and fish stew.  He only liked the lobster and fish stew.  
Then it was off to bed in the broad day light.  

I am on the plane now, headed to Paris.  I feel confident I saw a large bit of what makes Iceland absolutely spectacular.  

My conclusions are this:
1.  Iceland is unrivaled in beauty and geology
2.  There are a lot of sheep and no trees 
3.  The seafood is delicious with the exception of dried fish.
4.  Most of the people are blonde 
5.  As English speaker, you will never be able to read or pronounce any word in this country.
6.  It's probably super cold in the winter, as it never reached above 60 degrees in July.  
7.  They could use a few good construction workers to build better roads
8.  Icelanders could use a few more beer stores that open for longer hours. 

Since this is my personal record of this trip, I feel the need to include the following for my own satisfaction...
Geologically speaking these are the features I saw:
Fjords
Glaciers
Glacial Till
Morraines 
Erratics
Cirques
Kettles and kanes
A po'po lava flow
Volcanic ash
Cone volcanoes
Shield volcanoes
Moonscape
Hot springs
Rhyolitic rocks 
Basaltic rocks

See mom and dad, that college education has paid off..

Until Paris😊

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