With the jetlag, I surprisingly woke up before everyone else and made pancakes and eggs for everyone. Jillian was impressed. Back on the road with no time to spare.
Drove to Goðafoss, the Waterfall of the Gods, at Þingeyjarsveit. It was a little challenging keeping up with Jeremy at first, but we caught up with them at the waterfall and snapped a few pictures. I didn't realize at this point how many waterfalls we would be seeing so I wanted to linger but we kept our schedule.
On the road, we stopped to see these sulfur pits. That was another whole tourist attraction with a parking lot and tour busses and signs everywhere. As you can imagine, they smelled very foul. The ground felt stable at first but turned muddy very quickly so I stayed closer to the parking lot while Harris walked around and sunk into the mud. Some of the pits had 100°C sulfur water in them while there were also steaming piles of rocks.
Another 2 hour drive to Dettifoss, the second largest waterfall in Iceland, measured in water volume. This was certainly more impressive and larger than the others although I couldn't help thinking of "dental floss." From there, it was a short walk upstream to Selfoss). This was a little more fun to photograph since you could get rid up next to the water.
Back in the RV, another 45 minutes to the Víti Crater Lake. We started listening to the All Things Iceland Podcast to learn a little more about the local culture and customs. The crater lake was pretty and the drive was dotted with geothermal power stations which we were learning about on the podcast. Apparently Iceland produces a surplus of power, all from clean energy, so they use the excess to do power-hungry production like aluminum. After hiking to the top of the crater lake, we got back in the RV to head to the Myvatn Nature Baths.
We learned more about the hot springs on the podcast... since they are an all natural water source, they want to make sure they keep the water clean. It's required that you shower in the nude and wash thoroughly (especially your private parts) and then put your bathing suit back on before entering the water. Harris was happy that they served wine poolside while James tried a cider. The baths were basically a giant natural-ish hot tub. The bottom surface was volcanic rock pebbles but I dug down with my foot a bit to discover there was just concrete underneath. You could smell the sulfur a little bit but it was still very relaxing, especially after all of that driving. Apparently the water has medicinal properties to heal all kinds of ailments.
We enjoyed the hot springs for a while and then jumped back in the RV to drive to Húsavík. We got in late again, played a couple games of Uno, and then headed right to bed since we had to be up early the next morning.
Drove to Goðafoss, the Waterfall of the Gods, at Þingeyjarsveit. It was a little challenging keeping up with Jeremy at first, but we caught up with them at the waterfall and snapped a few pictures. I didn't realize at this point how many waterfalls we would be seeing so I wanted to linger but we kept our schedule.
On the road, we stopped to see these sulfur pits. That was another whole tourist attraction with a parking lot and tour busses and signs everywhere. As you can imagine, they smelled very foul. The ground felt stable at first but turned muddy very quickly so I stayed closer to the parking lot while Harris walked around and sunk into the mud. Some of the pits had 100°C sulfur water in them while there were also steaming piles of rocks.
Another 2 hour drive to Dettifoss, the second largest waterfall in Iceland, measured in water volume. This was certainly more impressive and larger than the others although I couldn't help thinking of "dental floss." From there, it was a short walk upstream to Selfoss). This was a little more fun to photograph since you could get rid up next to the water.
Back in the RV, another 45 minutes to the Víti Crater Lake. We started listening to the All Things Iceland Podcast to learn a little more about the local culture and customs. The crater lake was pretty and the drive was dotted with geothermal power stations which we were learning about on the podcast. Apparently Iceland produces a surplus of power, all from clean energy, so they use the excess to do power-hungry production like aluminum. After hiking to the top of the crater lake, we got back in the RV to head to the Myvatn Nature Baths.
We learned more about the hot springs on the podcast... since they are an all natural water source, they want to make sure they keep the water clean. It's required that you shower in the nude and wash thoroughly (especially your private parts) and then put your bathing suit back on before entering the water. Harris was happy that they served wine poolside while James tried a cider. The baths were basically a giant natural-ish hot tub. The bottom surface was volcanic rock pebbles but I dug down with my foot a bit to discover there was just concrete underneath. You could smell the sulfur a little bit but it was still very relaxing, especially after all of that driving. Apparently the water has medicinal properties to heal all kinds of ailments.
We enjoyed the hot springs for a while and then jumped back in the RV to drive to Húsavík. We got in late again, played a couple games of Uno, and then headed right to bed since we had to be up early the next morning.