Iceland: You’ve Been Dusted

….continued from Bring Your Own Bun (B.Y.O.B.)

We awoke early on Thursday morning to drive to our 12PM Snow Mobile Tour on Langjökull Glacier. En route we took a quick (unplanned) stop at the Kerið crater. There was a nominal charge for entry, we think, but had yet to master the conversion to ISK. In my opinion, the crater was nothing to write home about – at least in early April.

Bruarfoss Waterfall

It was now time for “Dusty” (our Dacia Duster) to earn her stripes. We were on a mission to locate Bruarfoss – Iceland’s bluest waterfall.  Google Maps took us to a parking lot where we crossed paths with a couple who alerted us that it was a muddy 7km “out and back” trek to the waterfall. Knowing our audience, (ahem, Greg and Roy) we knew this was not going to fly.  After consulting Google Maps once more, we located an entrance 2km down on the right. Two other families had arrived with the same goal in mind, so we recommended that they follow us. Apparently, they were less confident drivers and unable to keep up with our Dacia Duster. We left them in the dust, launching our catchphrase, “You’ve Been Dusted”.

When we arrived at Bruarfoss, we had the place to ourselves. We spent our time there breaking up all the chunks of ice, a.k.a. “icebergs” and tossing them in the river. Hey, we are from California, the chance to play with ice is a novelty!

Snowmobiling at Langjökull Glacier

Total Cost: $481

Next stop, a glacier. Decked out in ALL our layers, we boarded a super jeep from the Gullfoss parking lot, bound for the Langjökull Glacier. Little did we know that the tour company, mountaineers.is, would provide us with a mandatory snowmobiling onesie that we would have to now fit over top of our snow clothes. It is safe to say that we were not cold at any point during this entire excursion.

Jorge, our driver, who had just moved to Iceland from Mexico, was the person we were trusting to drive us across a field full of snow and ice (he did great actually). Jorge had a thing for the 80s it appears as he blasted Guns & Roses, “Sweet Child O’ Mine”(which Roy is now a big fan of), and AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” to wake us up en route.

This wasn’t my first rodeo when it comes to snowmobiling as I may have wrapped one around a pine tree in New Hampshire back when I was fifteen. But no one needs to hear about that right now. I Imagined that I would find this excursion quite tame, but with children involved, tame wasn’t really a bad thing.  Boy was I wrong. We blasted out of that starting gate like Chuck blasts out of the back door when he sees a squirrel. I instinctively reached back to grab Greg’s leg just to make sure he was still there! (He was.)

We soared over that glacier for forty-five adrenaline packed minutes before “parking” in the middle of the snow-white landscape to take pictures and make snow angels. It was surreal. On the way back it snowed on us making the whole thing all that more magical. This tour was definitely not for the faint of heart, but it checked all our boxes. Eight thumbs up!

Gullfoss Falls

After returning safely back to our “Dusty”, we made a quick sojourn to Gullfoss Falls, the “Golden Waterfall”, and one of Iceland’s most beloved and iconic waterfalls. (Aren’t they all!) It was snowing and quite frigid, so it wasn’t overly golden, but the sun did peak out from behind the clouds for a brief amount of time, allowing us to see it in all its glory. The café and gift shop at Gullfoss offered a nice respite from the bitter cold, and snacks. Snacks make everything better.

Hopping back in the car we made a brief stop at a small farm stand to feed the Icelandic horses.  When we ran out of food, one horse turned around like he was about to kick Greg. Before we could say a word, the owner emphatically pointed out that her horse definitely does not kick and that he was just letting us know that he would no longer perform if we did not feed him.  Fair enough. She also mentioned that the ones that kick, they eat.

Geysir

Our final stop for the day was at one of the most impressive geological sites in the country (and there are plenty to choose from), Geysir. Great Geysir is akin to Old Faithful, but it erupts infrequently, and we did not plan to stick around and wait.  Instead we settled for the Strokkur geyser, erupting at a regular cadence of four to seven minutes, that allowed us to view it from multiple angles. Afterwards we took a short walk around all the other little bubbling holes and steaming cavities, before jumping back into our Duster in an attempt to reach our next Guesthouse by nightfall.

Borðeyri

The Tangahus Guesthouse is in a small seaside village called Borðeyri. (No idea how to pronounce that word.)  En route to Borðeyri, we did experience those hazardous driving conditions that we had been warned about. During the final twenty minutes of our drive, the fog rolled in, and the visibility became poor at best.  Arriving at Tangahus, we had the entire top floor of the building, but had to navigate down three flights of stairs and across a small half-step that was purposely camouflaged to keep one on their toes, to reach the shared bathrooms. Greg insisted on testing out the communal shower because that is how he makes himself feel at home. So we had that to contend with as well.

Friday was Good Friday so many of the shops and restaurants were closed. We took a small detour to Hvammstangi to grab something (other than a cheese sandwich) for lunch. Unfortunately, the yogurt parfait that Greg ordered was sprinkled with cardamon (way more than his limited palette can handle), and Roy’s egg was served “sunny side up”. Not good.

After coming to terms with the fact that we would be eating cheese sandwiches for the rest of the trip, we continued onward. The kids favorite part of the drive was catching a PLAY Jet “crabbing” to fight the crosswinds during “short final” and land at Akureyri Airport. They could have stayed and watched this all day, but we convinced them to move along. Our next stop was the Goðafoss waterfall situated just off the “Ring Road”, and part of the “Diamond Circle”. This was yet another spectacular, iconic, blah blah blah waterfall in Iceland.

Husavik

I’m not sure what brought us to Husavik, but after watching the movie “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” on the flight home, I am glad that we made it there. While the film is dark and kinda twisted, it had excellent character development and (I think) there might have even been a message in there about love and friendship. Maybe. I would probably recommend it. The song, Husavik – My Hometown was poignant after visiting.

It was terribly windy while in Husavik, and we were stuck in our car speaking with our bank because they had disabled our credit card due “suspicious activity”. Thankfully we had an American Express. With that eventually sorted we did a quick walking tour of this charming fishing village with the bright yellow lighthouse and famous wood church located just beneath the Arctic Circle. We also stumbled upon the GeoSea Baths, which looked very inviting, but as we already had a reservation at the Myvatn Nature Baths, we decided to skip it.

Myvatn Nature Baths

Total Cost: $88

The wind was still howling and it was quite chilly when we arrived at the Myvatn Nature Baths but that didn’t deter us. We changed into our swimsuits, did the whole shower routine, and then realized that unlike at the Blue Lagoon, we had to get from the changing rooms to the pools, still wet from a shower, in 40mph winds and temperatures in the upper twenties. Needless to say, Roy required a LOT of coaxing to exit the showers and sprint for the pool. We floated around for about an hour, keeping our bodies low in the water, and finding the sections of the lagoon that had the most scolding water, before having to contemplate exiting the pools to make the jaunt back to the locker rooms. The transitions to and fro were messy, but the pool itself was delightful.

It was finally time for us to retire for the night. I had reserved us two adjoining rooms at the Fosshotel Myvatn. This fabulous hotel is situated on a hill overlooking the lake, AND provided us with our OWN bathroom and shower. It felt like we were royalty. But first we had to get through the lobby door. When we exited our Duster, we had about a forty yard dash to the door. We believe we had 70-80mph sustained winds at this point. By the time our family busted through that lobby door, we were so out of breath it was like we had just run a 10k. Once inside the woman at the check-in desk made a comment about how hyper our kids were and the calmly asked, “may I help you”, like there wasn’t a typhoon brewing outside?

Hverir Geothermal Area

After listening to the wind (all night), we left the comfort of our hotel, bound for Hverir. Hverir Geothermal Area does not have a its own personal geyser, but it does have a myriad of bubbling pools and smoking grounds that are rich in minerals. Hverir is a lot less crowded than Geysir and I appreciate that. The fumarole gases here do contain hydrogen sulfide though, which causes that characteristic smell of rotten eggs, a challenge for those with sensitive noses.

Dettifoss and Selfoss

Next on our itinerary was a visit to Dettifoss. Dettifoss is a waterfall found in North Iceland, said to be the most powerful in Europe. In early April, the East side was closed so we entered via the West on Highway 862. There was a decent amount of snow and ice on the 2km hike out Dettifoss, so boots may have been a better choice, but we survived in sneakers. After Dettifoss we visited Selfoss just to chalk up one more waterfall on our list.

We really wanted to venture to the town of Seyðisfjörður. Seydisfjörður is located in East Iceland, sitting at the inner corner of a fjord of the same name. We didn’t make it. The beautiful pictures we found in the brochures did not mention that we had to cross some major mountain passes. That would have all been well and good, except there was a near white out blizzard in the mountains. We decided, for the sake of the children, to turn back. Oh, the risks we used to take when it was just the two of us.

Vestrahorn

We experience rain, snow, sun, rain, sun and sleet again on our drive through Eastern Iceland. Just after passing through the Almannaskarðsgöng Tunnel, stretching 1.2km in length, we made a sharp left to Vestrahorn. This was our favorite stop of the trip. Unlike most of the mountains in Iceland, Vestrahorn mountain is made out of iron-rich and magnesium-rich gabbro rock. This leads to its dark and jagged appearance, an astounding contrast to the surrounding landscape.

For the best place to explore the area, we followed the signs to Stokksnes, and then drove along a gravel road until we reached the Viking Café. Here we paid the Vestrahorn entrance fee ($10), and then continued along the road to reach the beach. The sun was at the perfect angle for these pictures that made it appears that we were walking on water.

While still admiring our photography skills, we took a 15-minute stroll to a Viking Village in pristine condition. This village was built in 2010, as a movie set for a film that never “filmed”. It ran out of money. Recently, Universal Studios acquired the rights to produce Vikingr, that is expected to start production soon. Some of the scenes will be filmed at this Viking Village. Until then, one has free rein to walk anywhere on set.

Before leaving Vestrahorn we hiked out to the lighthouse, an abandoned WW2 army base, and an old NATO Radar site.  The Stokksnes Lighthouse was built in 1922 as part of the Allied Army base during WW2. Behind the lighthouse, the Radar Station, was once part of the Allied WW2 army base and later used by NATO to monitor Soviet air activity during the Cold War. These days it monitors commercial air traffic, which perked the “pilots” interest. We could have spent hours here, admiring the powerful waves crashing onto the rocky shore, but Roy had to use the toilet. He apparently didn’t think about when we were at the cafe, like two paragraphs ago.

Höfn

That night we stayed at the Milk Factory in Höfn. As the name suggests, this guesthouse is the result of the renovation of an old Milk Factory. Nice, big, spacious rooms all with their our own bathroom!

Continued here with: A Danish “Kit-Kat”