(Eden)

[PICTURES BELOW]

This morning we allowed ourselves to sleep in a bit. A quick breakfast and the usual routine of emptying out the black water “cassette” (from the camper toilet), draining the grey water (from the sinks) in the appropriate place, and filling up the camper water tank, we were on the road. 

Our first stop was the majestic Seljalandsfoss. We were still firmly in high tourist territory, so we weren’t surprised by the full parking lot and crowds. Still, very doable, and we found a spot. We followed the line behind the waterfall, which is very cool – a once in a lifetime experience, it felt like. We had read on the blogs to wear full rain gear, which we did and were very glad for! 

We then followed the trail to the right along the cliff to a second major waterfall that is in a cave – a not so secret waterfall. It was extra misty and wet in there, but we had fun taking a few pictures. Once outside again, we shed our waterproof outgear, spread them out to dry a bit, and flopped on the lovely grass in the sunshine. We eventually meandered our way back to the van and hit the road again. 

We passed by a few drive-by sites, including the Fence of Bras (just what it sounds like). We did not contribute. We also stopped briefly at Drangurinn í Drangshlíð 2 — short stop to see UNESCO turf-covered houses. Very cute.

Next up was the powerful Skogafoss – a big single classic waterfall that is visible from the Ring Road. I ran up the stairs and back along the trail to follow the river as it made sooo many other waterfalls. Absolutely insane idyllic frolic of my dreams. The others entertained themselves infinitely with crazy pics close up to the base of the thunderous thing. I got soaked after I ran and it was epic.

From there we drove a kilometer or so to Kvernufoss, where we parked, used the restrooms in the museum, and then walked back a long (1-2 mile) trail into a beautiful moss and grass covered gorge with the falls at the end. It was much less crowded and super nice, and we were pleasantly surprised that we were able to go behind it, too! So much for that once in a lifetime experience. Dad got to drone, too,. The colors today were absolutely unreal: bluest skies, greenest slopes, brownest rock, whitest clouds, rainbowest rainbows. Amazing. We saw sheep on the way there and on the return.

Our next stop was at Sólheimajökull, which is one of four larger glaciers in Iceland!! We hiked out the trail in the partial rain, and the fatigue finally started to hit us again. (As a side note, the rapidly-changing weather systems is something we all have noticed already! You can drive from sun to rain to sun again in just a short time.) Mom and I had seen this during the winter in Jan. 2024, and it looked so different in the summer. We got up close and got to touch some of the glacier itself. It was an awesome experience to see it expanding upward into infinity. Dad’s drone shots were amazing – he was able to fly up into and over the glacier. 

A stunning drive with sweeping mountains and vistas led us to Reynisfjara: Black sand beach!! Sadly, we realized we were out of time and couldn’t hit Dyrhólaey, which had strong puffin potential. But the beach was amazing – wish we had had more time to stay longer ~~ towering columns to the left, beautiful rocky outcropping to the right, stunning scary sea in front with waves that appeared out of nowhere, and a beach of perfectly smooth stones in which to wiggle your toes underneath. Made a lot of penis jokes with said rocks. I decided to  run 1 mi down the beach while dad flew the drone.  

With our energy flagging, we drove to Vik, where we stopped to see the church on the hill and gas and groceries. Super cute.

It was getting late, but we had another leg of driving to do, eastward, with the sun slowly setting. One’s sense of time gets warped here during the summer, since they have something like 18-20 hours of legit daylight, and the “night” is 3-4 hours of civil twilight – never full darkness. It makes for a great full day of sightseeing, but means it can get late without you realizing it. Anyway, Iceland had one last surprise in store for us – a huge mossy lava field that came out of nowhere. The landscape past vik quickly flattened out into infinity to the right and flat until the sharp increase of mountains and beyond that another even more massive glacier. And then, suddenly,  both sides were covered in rocks covered in moss. Other worldly and amazing and we stopped for a short frolic while dad tried to capture it with the drone. 

Our campsite was pretty much a field that someone charges to use! Dad checked in with a lady in a car and we were all set. Although after we started dinner (tikka masala!), we decided to change locations, which led to us “driving while cooking” and “offroading cooking” say Kieran and Elliot. I missed that portion for a frolic since I was out for a run again!. We ate dinner outside on our folding table and chairs and would have been on track for an 11pm bedtime if we were not all six of us yoppers. It was so lovely and relaxing to be outside in the forever dusk.