Day 9 & 10: Ice Ice Baby

Get ready for a two-dayer!

Day 9:

Like every other blog post before this one, we woke up. The breakfast at Fosshotel wasn't very substantial, and the options were pretty limited. The continental breakfast was a few slices of cheese, meat, and cucumbers. Kaylea had some lackluster pancakes. We had a glacier hike to get to, so we ate as much as we could. After that, we spent a little time working on the blog and getting ready before we made our way out. We put on all of our thermal gear, and a bunch of layers, and hit the road.  

We were only about 20 minutes away, but 20 minutes in snow gear in the car gets pretty hot. We pulled up to the meeting spot for our tour, and our guide was just wearing a long sleeve shirt. We got out and asked how cold it's going to be on the glacier, and she said "It's like this. Maybe just bring a light jacket." So we had to take off a bunch of layers in the parking lot. We met some of our fellow tourists, and hopped in a van to head to the glacier. It was a pretty good group. There was lots of joking around. The guide told us the name of the glacier, Vatnajökull (pronounced 'fat yogurt'), and then asked again later, and Aaron was the only person who remembered the name. She said that was the first time in 3 years someone remembered the name, but the only reason he remembered it was because it sounded like 'fat yogurt'. The guide also showed us a rock that was covered with moss called a 'glacier mouse'. Apparently, these rocks collect moss over hundreds of years while they roll down the glacier. There's a myth that if you kiss a glacier mouse, it will turn into a Viking husband (or wife). Kaylea heard that, and said "Gimme that rock back!" It was a solid burn. The glacier itself was obviously amazing. The weather was perfect, and we learned a lot. At the current rate of melting, in 10 years tourists won't be able to get to the glacier anymore because it will be surrounded by a lake. In another 120 years, all the ice in Iceland will be gone. So get your glacier hikes in folks!

After the hike, we stopped at a gas station close by for some burgers. The fancy food at the hotel was good, but sometimes you just need a burger and fries. We topped the night off with more hot tub.

Day 10:

We had to leave the hotel super early for day 10. We had to be out of the hotel by 7, which was before they served breakfast, so they packed us one to go. We paid for it after all. The 'breakfasts' were a sandwich, an apple, some yogurt, and a cookie. Really lunch, but good enough! We were up, packed, and out the door by 7:05!

It was an hour and 45 minutes to get to our first stop for the day. An ICE CAVE tour! We met at a soup shop, and immediately knew what we were eating after the ice cave's we're done. We had a super quick cup of coffee, then hopped into another van with strangers for a long bumpy ride. The advertising said the ride over would be in a super jeep, but it was just a super jacked up van.

The group was a bit younger and a bit more subdued, because it was pretty early in the morning. Our tour guide was a great! He was a super tall Norwegian guy who hiked really fast. We felt like we had to run to keep up with him, but he just had long legs. We stopped at 2 ice caves. The first wasn't structurally sound, so we just looked at it from the outside. It was huge. The second ice cave wasn't as tall, but it was still incredible. We spent some time getting pictures, and running around with ice picks before heading back to the soup shop.

After a quick lunch, we were on the road again. The plan was to stop by a downed plane, another waterfall, then our next hotel. The plane didn't work out. The shuttle wasn't running, and the wind was way too high for a 2 hour hike. But, on the way to our next waterfall, we found another waterfall! I don't know if you guys have heard, but Iceland has some waterfalls. Kaylea ran into the bottom of this one, and then several other tourists copied her. She got sopping wet, but it was so windy that she was dry enough by the time we got back to the car.

Still not quite waterfalled out, we drove a bit further to a waterfall trifecta. There was a giant one you could get behind, a smaller one that was just ok, and then a secret one that was amazing!

 

It was a pretty uneventful drive to the hotel after that. At some point the landscape transitioned from Iceland to El Paso, but the weather was still definitely Iceland. Our Hotel was a little boujee, and a little elderly. We were the youngest people there by far. When we went to dinner, they sat us in a completely separate room away from everyone else. There was a musician singing opera, playing piano, and covering Kaylea's favorite Frank Sinatra song! Fly Me to the Moon! It was very nostalgic, and very awkward. But the music was overbearing, and the food was sub par, so we decided to call it an evening... with more hot tub.