Ja Ja Ding Dong

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day.  The sun was shining all day- and it will continue to shine almost all night, too.  There were clouds, but they were pretty, wispy clouds bobbing about in some of the bluest sky we’ve seen on this trip.  And it was just about as perfect as a day could be.  We began with a lava field hike to a spot called Skútustaðahreppur.  Try saying that three times fast.  Or one time at all.  I’ve surrendered to the language and decided that it’s just called a lava field.  

Anyhow, it was a very nice hike. We did a lot of hiking today, in fact.  I haven’t headed to dinner, yet, and my step counter says I have walked 17,865 steps.  It also thinks I have climbed 33 flights of stairs.  Joke’s on you- step-o-meter… Most of that was just really steep inclines, not actual staircases.  Regardless, here is Cas at the top of one of those inclines, checking out a lava field. 

Our next stop was Húsavík.  Now, I don’t know if any of you out there reading this stuff are big Will Ferrel fans, but he did a movie where he played an Icelander, and his character was from Húsavík.  It was called Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.  It was exactly on-brand for Will Ferrell.  

Cas- in classic Cas style- looked up movies and shows set in Iceland before we left and downloaded a few to watch on his iPad while we were flying over here, and we watched that one somewhere over the Arctic Circle.  It was appropriately goofy and exactly the kind of shallow end of the intellectual pool you need when facing the challenges of international travel.  But, we watched the movie and found it amusing and very cute.  We just didn’t know if Icelanders found it amusing or offensive.  Were they delighted to see the portrayal of their home or horrified by how much of it was wrong?  Really, either thing could have been true.  Turns out, they loved it.  We listened to a song from the movie on the way in and a different song from the movie on the way out of town.  The Whale Museum we went to had a brochure out front for a place you could go and see the costumes from the movie.  So strike up a chorus of Ja Ja Ding Dong, which is allegedly the favorite song of Husávik residents and sing along!  Seriously though, the whale museum was kind of amazing.  There were skeletons from whales- most of whom died of natural causes- and it gave you some scale for just how enormous these beasts are.  

While we were in Husávik, we stopped for lunch.  Cas ordered the fish soup and I ordered the fish of the day, which was wolf fish- which I have never heard of- and we swapped plates halfway through.  We also ordered a few fun, summer drinks, because it was the kind of day when you leave your jacket behind and walk around in a t-shirt.  Summer solstice and all, you know.  Sunny skies and seasonal beverages are appropriate.  Yesterday, we were wearing all of our layers of clothing to stay warm, and today, we would have worn sandals if we had any that could have handled a few hikes.  

After that, we drove for a while and stopped off at a pretty canyon for another walk.  Our guide apparently loves to make extra stops when the sun is shining, so today was a pretty great day for that.  Quick canyon hike in the books, and it was time for Dettifoss.  Dettifoss is the most powerful waterfall in all of Europe.  I have to admit, it is pretty spectacular.  Cas and I stood looking down at it and he asked if maybe we could walk behind this one, too.  I figured it may present a challenge.  It looks pretty perilous.  But it was a lot of majesty, a lot of beauty and a lot of mist rising from the water.  There was a perpetual rainbow just hovering in front of the falls, and if you went to just the right spot, there was a double rainbow.  Kind of amazing.  

Tomorrow takes us to a herring museum, Goðafoss, the Forest lagoon and a new city entirely.  It’s swimsuit season on our tour, and it’s time to hop in some geothermal waters.  We’ll chat on the other side of the lagoon- until then, check out our photos: tinyurl.com/DunlapIceland.