Laugar, September 3, 2019

What a treat!  When we get down to breakfast there are scrambled eggs with bacon and dollar pancakes and lots of other delicacies!  You don’t know what you’ll miss until you don’t have it!  And there is one of those magic coffee machines!  After breakfast we tell the hostess how much we enjoyed breakfast and that this has been our very favorite stop along our journey!  She tells us that the restaurant is only closed because her boss, who is the cook, had to go to Reykjavik.  She can’t cook and her husband does all their cooking!  She is assured that she will never starve!

Ceiling light in our bedroom (with an ensuite!!)

The hot tub is down there somewhere!

Someone out for an early morning ride.

In Ireland these would be leprechaun houses! 

We have the only balcony!  He told us we were in the castle!

Horses are a popular decor theme.  And we didn't even get time to visit them!

Today is pretty simple and we start out around ten, which is also a treat!  We stop to read one of the information signs by side of the road and discover that this is the area where the midges hang out!  We knew there was a reason we brought those dorky looking head things!

I think this one is deformed!

So in love with the snow-topped mountain!

Our first stop is called Dimmuborgir and is a desolate lava field straight out of a science fiction movie.  It reminds me of an area on Grand Cayman called Hell.  The Caymanian government has a post office there, so you can send your friends a card from Hell!  The paths are all beautifully maintained and it would be a terrific place to let your kids work off some steam.  It’s pretty grand for photographers, too!

While shopping, I ask the clerk what the Icelandic words on a tee shirt mean and she replies, “I don’t speak Islandic.” I, of course, apologize and she laughs and says, “No, that what it says on the shirt!”  We all have a great giggle.  I’m sure you does that often;  but it was new for us and we enjoyed it a lot.  I also asked what the traditional Icelandic housewarming present would be and she was stumped!  She asked around and came back saying the people all agreed that rye bread and salt were traditional!

They also have a really fun gift shop and a restaurant that serves all-you-can eat soup and bread for 1900 kroner (about nineteen dollars). That’s a really, really good deal and it’s just a darn shame that we had such a good breakfast and can’t take advantage of it!  The WC costs two hundred kroner, unless you have a ticket from the restaurant!  We dropped more than lunch at the gift shop;  but we didn’t get a ticket!  If you use your credit card, just like everywhere else in Iceland, it gives you a ticket that you can scan to gain entrance to the porcelain attraction.

On the road again and we arrive at Namafjall Hverir, a geothermal area that is described as being a miniature Yellowstone!  (Appropriately enough I’m wearing my Yellowstone sweat shirt as one of the many layers between me and the cold.). The description is quite apt, with bubbling mud pits and steam vents and wonderful colors!

There is an amazing number of swans around!

Bubbling mud pits!

Just like Yellowstone!

Down the road a bit there is a geothermal pool and lots of steam vents all around it!

Our major destination for the day is the waterfall called Dettifoss, the most powerful waterfall in Europe!  It’s a bit of a trek to get to where you can see it plunging down into the canyon.  Marilyn is quite content with this view.  I, on the other hand, feel compelled to get closer, even though it means climbing down the wet and slippery steps and rocks and getting pretty drenched from all the mist.  (Yea, most of those phots have water all over them!). But I make it down and back and feel all virtuous.  Ginger would be proud!

Dettifoss.  It's really wet down there!

There is a second waterfall, Selfoss, just a short (relatively) hike, down the river, and we set out for that one!  It makes me think of Niagra Falls and is lovelier, though not as powerful, as it’s big brother.

Nature will win!

Selfoss

Nessie??

Amazing black sand beach along the river between the two falls.

Our objectives for the day met, we head for home and a hot meal at Delakofinns.  We’ve decided that we’ll split a burger and their big mixed salad.  All we have to do when we arrive, after about an hour and a half drive back, is to chose the burger (Smokey Valley with cheese, BBQ sauce, potato chips, lettuce, cucumber, red onions, and tomatoes) and it comes with fries!  The “Salad of the House” features lots of veggies with feta cheese and croutons.  It turns out to be just the right amount of food.  We also stop for gas, right by the restaurant and have just about figured out the system.  If have to reinsert your card if you want a receipt!  Our normal fill up comes to around fifty dollars.

While we’ve ben galavanting, Gunnar has arranged a new whale-watching adventure for us tomorrow morning.  We’re hoping that the winds will be less troublesome in the morning, and our ship leaves at 9:45, so It should be fine.  And if not, we have a Plan B.

Back in the room we have our last (little) bottle of wine and some spicy peas, plan our route for tomorrow and get a photos of our next guest house, The Nest.  It’s a lot easier to find a place when you know what it looks like!

Blogging and bed.  Marilyn’s already out like the proverbial light.  She does all the driving so I really want her to be well rested!!