Ok, it has been a while, but it is time for me to flex my blogging muscles. First of all, to dispel any factual inconsistencies, there is ice in Iceland. Quite a bit actually. There is also a very long road that runs around the perimeter of the whole country and we intend to drive the entire thing. Today was a lot about driving. We left the southern part of the country and traveled in to the eastern part. The differences in temperature and wind don’t look like much on paper but you can definitely feel the 4 degrees and drop from double digit wind speeds to single digits.
Our first stop along this truly epic drive was The Hvalnes (whale peninsula) which has a lighthouse and abandoned turf farm. The wind was blowing fairly hard and the temp along the coast was still pretty low, so Ryan and I took a very brief walk and then returned to the car. Boy oh boy, was that a mistake. Melissa, Elizabeth and Audrey had practical experience with animal husbandry. If you happen about the nesting area of the Arctic Tern (European Swallow), you will be mercilessly attacked by birds repeatedly dive bombing you in a warning to get out of the area. According to Melissa, it was like a scene out of the Hitchcock classic, The Birds. I wish I had been there, not to help protect my family, but to get epic video of the event. Gillian watched from a distance, but she didn't have her phone. I even offered to let them go back for a second helping so I could capture the event for everyone to enjoy. They declined.
On down the road we drove through Djupivogur to see the world famous egg sculptures and we spotted our first reindeer!
Oh well, back on the road. The intermediate stop in our day’s journey was a quaint little village, Stodvarfjordur. Believed to have been a seasonal settlement during the Viking era, the town of Stodvarfjordur was formed in the late 19th century and is home to approximately 200 people. The visitor center is also a market where 30 local artists and craftsmen display their wares for sale. There was almost no end to the knitted clothing, including an awesome onesy. The girls picked a few items and we continued to explore the village. Across the street was another artist shop with clay, silver jewelry, and woven fabric art. Everything was lovely. But, the main reason Melissa picked this location on our adventure was the very unique museum at the end of the road; Petra's Stone Museum. Petra collected stones, minerals, and more for over 90 years, and her home is now the largest collection in the world. It's amazing, and actually one of our favorite stops thus far. Seriously. You could spend hours there.
"Rocks rock."-- Ryan
"They’re cool."-- Gillian
"Rocks are really nice."--Audrey
The final interesting feature in the village was the Saxa sea geyser. Unfortunately the wind and sea conditions were not in our favor and the geyser wasn’t geysering.
We rolled into Egilsstadir, the capital of the Eastfjords, and got checked into our hotel. After a brief respite and a lovely dinner in the hotel restaurant, everyone loaded back up in the family truckster and we drove over to the Volk Baths. These baths are geothermal. Water is piped deep underground and heated, then brought back to mix with the lake water to attain the desired temperatures. It was interesting to be slow cooking in s 104 degree pool, with several dozen of our closest friends while enjoying the magnificent landscape of a lake, backed with snow capped mountains. It really was majestic.
That brings us to the end of the day. Back to the hotel where we opened the windows (no sandflies), closed the shades (the sun doesn’t really set), and laid down to contemplate our next day’s adventure while drifting off to blissful sleep.
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