Iceland Part Deux, Days 6-7

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We left Hvammstangi in the morning, stopping first at the Wool Factory, one of the highlights of the area. Then we continued on to the completely empty roads to the Snaefellsnes peninsula. Seriously, we only saw one truck until we got to the turnoff to the peninsula and even then, probably a total of less than ten cars for the next hour. Some beautiful sights though. You could see the snow covered peaks in the distance, the beautiful fjords along the way, and the winding road for miles.

I had been reading up on the area and I really wanted to see a place called Beserkjahraun, where two hired hands had cleared a path through a massive lava field so one could marry the farmer's daughter. Unfortunately, it was on a small gravel path through about two feet of snow. Obviously our tiny Yaris was not going to get through it. So we gave up and decided to head to town for our whale watching time at 2pm in a small town called Grundarfjörður.

About ten kilometers from our destination, we saw two people waving their hands on the side of the road. We decided to stop to see if they were ok (see lack of cars above). Guess what? It was the same Brooklyn couple from days earlier!!!! When they saw it was us, they dropped their hands and heads in embarrassment. They apparently had tried to drive off road to some site which was covered in snow to "see how far" they could make it through. When they went to turn around, the back end broke through some ice and got stuck in a creek like thing. Apparently. It was a good 500m in, so we never saw. They guy suggested he ride back with us and have her wait there. She was like… um… no! So, we put E on her sister's lap in the front and Gabe scooched over and the couple sat in the back. We were still in shock that it was the SAME couple! And I guess he is a cop. Lol. We tried to drop them off at the tourist information center, but it was closed so they said they would walk to the gas station and thanked us profusely for our help. I told them I had to get a photo before I left. It was too much!

We stopped at a cafe which doubled as the check in for the whale watching tour. This was K's big dream for the trip and since we had had such good luck lately, and with our good karma for picking up that couple again, we were sure it would be a successful trip. First, we split a couple of pizzas and she and I had a big beer before the tour. I actually was a bit tipsy. They called us outside and everyone put on giant blue coveralls to keep us protected from the cold and spray. We were excited to see some orcas! Unfortunately, we looked, and looked, and looked…. until it was obvious that we would not see them today. The announcer said that they seemed to be feeding more offshore in the open sea where the boat could not go right now. We saw a couple of dolphins, or glimpses of their fins in the distance, but that was it. It was nice to see the scenery though. When we got off, we got four tickets to use for any other tour which are good for a year. K and I already discussed coming back in June, so maybe we can see puffins then! Still, it was a bummer.

We went back into the cafe to warm up and use the restrooms where we saw the Brooklyn couple. They managed to run into a few local young guys who were more than enthusiastic to help them get out. So they rode with them to get their car and said it took about ten minutes and the guys would not take anything for their help. They also offered to buy us lunch or something and flatly denied them. As funny as their predicament was to us and however much we thought they need a good dose of common sense, we were genuinely happy to have helped them. Especially since no one had stopped for us before when we had that tire trouble, it was the least we could do.

We found our apartment, which was really quite nice and we were a bit sad we would only be able to enjoy it for one night. We were still craving some ice cream, so we got intel that there was ice cream at a restaurant near the edge of town (note: probably the only restaurant in town). It was not quite the same as we had in Reykjavik, but it did the trick. We cooked leftovers for dinner and drank what was left of our alcoholic beverages. And got a good night's sleep.

The next morning we woke super early and were on the road before 6:30. The kids fell asleep in the back pretty easily, but K and I focused on the three hour drive to the Blue Lagoon. It really was quite lovely scenery. There was quite a bit of snow as we approached Reykjavik and we ran out of wiper fluid. We stopped at a gas station and I was told we did not have to buy a full bottle of fluid, that they would fill the tank and charge us the volume used. Awesome.

We arrived right on time at the Blue Lagoon, with E a bit cranky at being woken up; she is not a morning person. We went in and changed and the rules appeared to be even more lax than last time - almost everyone was in their swimsuits and half the people did not wash their hair and most of them seemed to skip the showers all together. People are so inconsiderate. It seems people do not realize they should go into the pool just to the left of when you come out of the changing rooms. You get used to the water and then can go directly from there to the outside lagoon without getting out of the water. On the way to the main lagoon, there is a cave that has a little discussion about the lagoon and its background. The pool had changed considerably since last time - it seemed smaller to me. A lot of one side was under construction, for expansion I assume. K and I upgraded our package, so while we got our free mud masks like everyone else, we also got an algae face mask. E was not sold on the masks, insisting there was some kind of conspiracy at work, despite me being a geologist and pulling up the silica mud with my toes… While we refreshed our faces, K and I grabbed our included drinks - a sparkling strawberry wine, which was surprisingly good. We got two each. We hung in the lagoon for a little over an hour before getting out and grabbing some lunch.

Before you knew, it was time to leave and we headed to the airport. We got totally screwed by Hertz regarding the side mirror cover - despite our pointing out that obviously it was not on right to begin with. So, whatever money we saved by using them, was out the window and then some; sad because they are our usual go-to company. They drove us the 200m to the airport where we waited in a long line before clearing customs and security with ease. We did some last minute souvenir shopping before we parted ways and boarded our flights. Goodbye Iceland!!!

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Photos

heading out to the sea
Gabe tends to get seasick. He didn't look too good but braved through it.

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Blue Lagoon
What a great blog and glad you took a photo of the couple from Brooklyn. We can't wait to go back.

[Anna]

Great blog, Alexis! So excited to see Iceland! ❤️