When researching what to do in
Iceland I heard about glacier tours down along the southeast coast. It was over four hours from where we were staying so I knew it
would take an entire day of our stay to make it happen. I couldn't let it
go and decided that it was something we needed to see. I booked a tour
for 12:20pm, which meant we needed to be out the door no later than
7:45am. I think we're typically pretty quick getting out the door in the
mornings but it's still a process, especially when we need to bring along food,
snacks, warm clothes, etc... It was a long drive there. We didn't
want to make any stops on the way just to ensure we made it in time for our
reservation. As we passed some interesting sights we made a few mental
notes of places we wanted to stop on the way back.
We've never traveled to Alaska
or anywhere like it so to drive into the parking lot and see a glacial lake
full of icebergs was pretty amazing. The icebergs have broken off from
the third largest glacier in the world and are making their way to the
ocean. So cool! Our boat tour was only about a half
hour but we were able to get up close to the icebergs as we made our way around
the lagoon. I loved the bright blue ones.
The guide brought a chunk of
ice on the boat for us to hold (apparently freezing cold) and then she broke it
up into pieces and let us eat it - she said it was the oldest, freshest thing
we'd likely ever eat (approx. 800 years old).
We walked around the lagoon a
bit. Watching the icebergs making
their way down toward the beach was fascinating.
Again, I've seen pictures of
Diamond Beach and I knew why it was called Diamond Beach, but seeing it in
person is completely different than in pictures or words. I was
awestruck. It was seriously one of those moments that I was overcome with just
how beautiful this world is and how blessed I was to be experiencing it. So stunning
with chunks of ice glistening on the shore.
The kids apparently have a hard
time being on a beach and not playing in the water. Especially difficult
when there are large shiny chunks of ice you really want to touch, climb, and
take pictures with. We were so close to having us all walk away from the
beach dry but a wave caught us by surprise and got Drew's shoes, pants and
socks soaking wet. No spare clothes of course, but good thing it was a
sunny day and we had hours of driving in the car ahead where they could dry out
on the dashboard.
We spent more time at the
glaciers than expected so we had to modify the rest of the afternoon/evening a
bit. Taking out a beach hike to a airplane crash (A, C and K weren't not
sad about that). There were some beautiful sights along the way.
We stopped at Reynisfjara
Beach. I believe this is our first time visiting a black sand
beach. We scored with a sunny day. Typically this beach has a
hallow, dark look to it. Today it was bright and beautiful.
The ledges cut into the hill
along the shore were perfect for a little climbing (and jumping).
We also had a couple waterfalls
on our must-see list. Selfoss was first and the most impressive. We
climbed up the 429 steps (Carly counted on the way up and the way down) to the
top of the waterfall. I was surprised to see how many people camp in Iceland.
The weather is typically very rainy and cold. Lodging is so expensive
that it makes sense, but it just seemed that people put up tents anywhere they
wanted even just along the side of a road. Also a lot of
hitchhikers. Iceland seemed incredibly safe so I think for young people
camping and bumming rides is a reasonable way to see the country.
Seljalandfoss ended up
being a drive-by waterfall visit for us. Perhaps we're a bit snobbish
when it comes to waterfalls since we're spoiled with so many where we
live.
The kids were pretty hungry by
this point so we stopped at a little restaurant for some Icelandic hot
dogs. Four with French fries under the hot dog and one with
Doritos. Strange, but apparently not disgusting. I, of course, only
ate the French fries. Sadly, it
was at this stop that my hydroflask was taking out of the van for Drew and
never put back in – my contribution to Iceland.
I think it was good that our
all day road trip happened to fall on our last full day of vacation. We
had the three littles sitting across the back seat and I felt like we were
getting after them about something all day long. Keep your hands to
yourself, be quiet, clean up your mess, etc... I have absolutely no
regrets about seeing what we did, but by golly nine hours of driving was sure a
lot.
