Friday July 11th
For as great as the weather was the day before, it was miserable the day we left. We nervously started the drive back up the mountain leaving the fjord. The higher we climbed, the more mist and rain impeded the vision. When we finally reached the peak and headed back down to the other side, I swear I was riding the breaks the entire time. I felt like kissing the ground when we made it to the sea level and headed southwest back to the capital. For whatever reason, this drive took much longer than we thought it would. We stopped for lunch in Höfn, the town where some of Walter Mitty was filmed. The town is known for its lobster harvesting, so we had some soup with that in it and it was divine. After leaving there, we stopped at the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. I was wearing shorts and a tee shirt and had felt fine up to that point, but I swear it was 30 degrees colder at the lagoon. I was freezing. But it was magnificent seeing these arctic blocks of blue ice floating in a lagoon right in front of us. We also saw one of the seastack rock formations that I had wanted to see on the black sand beach, called Starmýri Rock. This is almost impossible to locate on Google Maps so just be on the lookout for a small sign saying there is a place to pull off the Ring Road along the coast. It is worth it. The rest of the drive was a constant revolving view of ashfields, lava rock fields, glaciers, and houses covered in grass rooftops. There were several huge coastal cliffs. When we finally began to approach Reykjavik, we drove up a mountain range that had huge vents of steam coming up from patches of ground, a testament to the volcanic nature of where we were. Thankfully, we made it through without incident. We arrived in the city that the international airport is located in, which had a shady element to it at night. A lot of what looked to be strip clubs were open near where our hostel was. The room was actually pretty nice, and we were able to relax some despite the fire alarm going off while Samantha was taking a shower. I went down the street to a gas station and got us some of the now famous hot dogs and we called it a trip. Iceland had beyond lived up to its mystique and beautiful reputation, and I hope one day we are back there.
– Christopher and Samantha Caravello, world travelers, survivors of cancer and every up and down a marriage can possible have
Iceland | Day 1: Reykjavik & Suðurnes | Day 2: Akureyri & drive North | Day 3: Mývatn & Goðafoss | Day 4: Dettifoss & drive West to Norðfjörður | Day 5: Eistnaflug | Day 6: Glacier Lagoons & the drive South
