Posts Tagged ‘self-guided’
Self-Guiding Iceland
Our fifth day in Iceland started with a casual breakfast in our Blue View Cabin. The makings for a picnic lunch got packed while the Icelandic gales roared outside. We learned about lenticular clouds from Mike, given the perfect visual aids available in the big sky views above.
Setting our own agenda made it easy to switch up our itinerary and visit the Strokkur Geyser before the Gullfoss Waterfall simply because we came upon it first on the route from our cabin. The early hour and intense wind had us wrapped up tight against the elements.
After an extended wait, a construction worker happened by and informed us the big geyser wasn’t blowing. We adjusted our attention to another spot where Mike caught the eruption.
The assault of the freezing temperature and intense wind had us seeking brief respite in the shelter of the coffee shop before setting out again.
The breeze was no less challenging at Gullfoss, but the temperature was warming, and we generated some of our own warmth with the hiking to see the marvel of yet another unique and astounding waterfall.
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I found myself mesmerized by the visual of the spray rising out of the canyon to the top of the ridge where the gusts immediately and emphatically rushed it away.
Given our freedom to choose our agenda, we made a stop for a closer look at Skálholt Cathedral, which Barb had looked up for us.
Thankfully, they had preserved real history on the site, too.
It was a light day for our intrepid explorers and we made our way back to the little cabin for a soak in the hot tub, a little power lounging, and dinner from our groceries, continuing to enjoy the big sky views sheltered from the wind.
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After Lagoon
After the exhilaration of the zodiac boat tour, it seemed like it would be hard to keep the thrills at such a high level, except our “super-planners” had packed each successive moment with more to see or do. There would be no time for a letdown. Even travel time in our rental SUV offered a constant barrage of unique and fascinating landscapes to keep our minds overflowing with wonder.
Plus, learning to decipher unfamiliar highway signage and coping with a combination of other unfamiliar tourist drivers and local business vehicles with their own sense of purpose on the narrow Ring Road offered video-game levels of challenge. We relied heavily on the voice directions coming from Mike’s phone plugged into the dash.
The glacier lagoon was the farthest eastward we would travel on the southeast coast, as we then circled back the way we’d come to visit the Svartifoss waterfall in the Skaftafell Nature Reserve. Just an easy 2-mile hike from the car park.
Barb’s step-counter tallied our total distance hiked over the whole trip at 54 miles. (That’s 87km for those of you wondering.) Two miles was hardly a blink for us, although all the hikes tended to involve a fair amount of elevation gain to be climbed, making mere distance an incomplete measure of effort required.
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The afternoon warmed considerably, making our stroll along the trail toward the main attraction more pleasant than we believed possible. Remember, we had been prepared to face cloudy days with chilly horizontal rain pelting us head to toe.
Each time we experienced more sun than clouds, I pinched myself to check if I was dreaming.
Ten miles further down the road, we arrived at our hotel for the next two nights. Appearing somewhat like a motel we might find on Route 66, Hotel Skaftafell proved to be classier than meets the eye. The restaurant was truly fine dining.
When I reached the pomegranate seeds in my salad, I remembered I had wanted to get some photos of our food.
For our entrees, Cyndie selected lamb,
and I chose cod. It was a work of art.
It was the end of only our second day. Wow. Really, just wow.
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Relative Something 