We’re at a hotel next to Lake Mývatn on the northern side of the island, just in case someplace like Reykjavík was too far south for near constant daylight. Today was very, very cold. Especially considering tomorrow is the official beginning of summer. It actually snowed on us as we rolled down the highway. Didn’t have June 20th as a snowy day on my calendar, but travel teaches you things, right? It was drizzly most of the time we were out marching around in the elements, making it extra cold anywhere water hits your skin. Here’s a thing I know as of today, too: If you pack rain pants on a trip like this and you are truly on the fence wondering if you should throw them on over your hiking pants or not, just go ahead and do it. If you get the kind that zips all the way down each leg, it takes virtually no time, and you will regret not wearing them far more than any possible regret about being overdressed.
But this morning, we began with a quick aside to a really interesting building that had been a monastery. I think it’s a cafe, now, but the building had history- and that really neat Icelandic grass roof. I have been pondering that for our house in Dallas. I don’t know how turf roofs fare in hailstorms, but it can’t be much worse than shingles. We’ve got a pretty in-obtrusive homeowners’ association in our neighborhood, but I suspect they’d have some choice words for any family on the block who rips off a shingled roof and plants grass up top. Alas, we will adorn our house in the custom of the suburbs.
The next big ticket item today was a waterfall called Rjúkandafoss. By the way, I have given up trying to add pronunciation notes. It’s a lot of work for my brain, and I am probably not getting them right. I’m just making up how to say these things as I go along. You’re welcome to copy and paste them into an AI platform and ask the internets what to say. I’ll wait.
This waterfall, though. I mean, wow. Another wow. We walked up in 3° drizzle. I am sure that’s 38° Fahrenheit. Fun fact- it’s also 276° Kelvin. Aren’t conversion apps fun? It was reallly cold. And I was too dumb to put my rain pants over my other pants. So was Cas, so I was in good company, but next time we scratch our heads and wonder if we should or shouldn’t, we know the answer. Anyhow, here’s the waterfall:
Next, we went to a spot that somehow looked like the surface of the moon. Not sure why- I kind of lost the thread in the middle of all the tooth chattering- then we were off to this really interesting geothermal space that had steam vents coming up out of the ground. The sulfur smell is always unmistakable in spots like this, and I have now been to enough that I know to expect it. There were also bubbling mud pots in the ground, which is disorienting every time we see it. It looks like a very expensive spa treatment could happen there and I would probably decline then later mock it. For your pronounciation experimentation I have the name of that geothermal area here- give it a go: Nàmafjall, Oof, that’s a tough one.
After that, we saw some pseudo craters called Skútustaðagígar. Those were spots in a marshy area that got these great crater-looking concave spaces at the topmost part of the hills when hot lava flowed across the landscape 2,300 years ago. On any regular day in my life, those would have been remarkable, but my threshold for amazing stuff is a little skewed today. Like- call me when you have a majestic waterfall or a bubbling mud pit. I don’t get out of the van for a dent on the top of a hill. What have I become? It’s all amazing and spectacular. I need to check my little attitude. Maybe I am tired. We have been going at a pretty rapid clip lately, and perhaps, it’s time to hit the hay early and start tomorrow late. Sounds like the best thing to do on the longest day of the year- start it out with a properly long sleep. Good night, friends!
Our photos: tinyurl.com/DunlapIceland.
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