Tuesday
The hotel buffet here is much more varied than our typical US Hilton stay. They offer different breads, croissants, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, bananas, oranges, melons, corn flakes, Skyr (Icelandic yogurt), Chia seed pudding, scrambled eggs, bacon, beans, oatmeal, juices. I think I got it all.
This is a picture I took from our hotel room because the sun was shining! Then I sat down on my bed and Shelley told me it was gone. So I took the second picture to show how quickly the storms come.
Our first activity today was snorkeling in the Silfra fissure in Thingvellir National Park. Silfra fissure is the separation between the two tectonic plates (like yesterday) but underwater. The water is about 35 degrees, so we get geared up in dry suits. Kent wasn't interested in this activity, so he hung out in the car. They have to be sure that no water leaks in to us, so that add an extra strap around our wrists and neck. It feels uncomfortable and we all voiced our opinions. Once we're in the water though it feels a bit better. Our lips are numb but that means no pain soon. It was very clear water and our suits made us buoyant so we didn't have to try too hard. We got our pictures taken with one hand on the North America plate and one on the Eurasia plate. It was all great fun until I got vertigo and soon wanted to puke my guts out. Our sweet guide, Elsa, said that it happens often. I just had to turn on my back and let her drag me to the exit. I made it through getting back, changing back into my clothes and walking to the road for the car before I tossed my cookies. After that, laying down, and taking some meds while we drove to our next activity, I felt back to normal.
Next stop was in the "Geysir" area. There are a few geysers, and geothermal pools. The Strokur geysir is even bigger than Old Faithful when it erupts which is every 20 something years. Fortunately, another geyser there is a little more predictable. It erupts every 5 minutes or so. It was nice weather there, until it wasn't. Shelley wasn't wearing her snow pants yet, so when it started to pelt hail at us she was shrieking a bit. Later she found a burst blood vessel on her leg from the hail! Ouch!
Then we went to Gulfoss Waterfall.
We stopped at Barnloft for burgers in a town called Efstidalur II. The place has there own cow farm and we could watch the dairy cows eating from the bottom level of the restaurant. McKinley got some farm fresh strawberry ice cream for dessert.
We finished off the rest of the Golden Circle Road on our way back to our hotel. The weather once again acted up with some crazy snow squalls where at some points we could only see from one road marker to the next. The weather here is no joke. We called the hotel to check on our Northern Lights tour tonight, yup it's canceled again due to weather.
We headed to bed early tonight because tomorrow we have to leave by 4:30 for our next excursion.
