Iceland Day #7

Keagan this morning: Can we please go somewhere for breakfast? Y’all over here wanting to hike and see things and you are doing it on the calories of granola bars. I need some food. 

So our day began at a cafe eating eggs and bacon with fresh sourdough bread. 

The sun is shining! This made the Godafoss stop incredible. 

Our adventures, though, quickly went downhill. 

Strike #1: Hverir 

This geothermal area smelled horrible and had no redeeming qualities like color or intrigue. The tea pots did nothing for us. 

Strike #2: Dimmuborgir Lava Fields

Sure, a volcano erupted 2000 years ago and formed these lava fields and lava caves. But it’s rock. On a side note, the 13 Yule Lads live here and prepare to deliver Christmas gifts in December, but it’s June and they were all sleeping. Small children were looking in every nook and cranny attempting to spot them. 

And we had to pay to use the bathroom. The bathrooms here are not separated by gender. Anyone can enter any stall they choose.

The volcano is in the backdrop.

On our way to stop #3 I finally got my Icelandic horse pic. He looks like my grandad’s ol’ horse Chester. Horses are eaten here; it’s a delicacy. 

Strike #3: Grjótagjá Cave and Fissure

The cave houses hot springs and was once a swimming hole. A volcano erupted recently and the temp of the water spiked. It’s no longer considered safe. I would have loved to have sat on the edge and dangled my feet in it. 

Strike #4: Psuedocraters

Hot volcanic rock bubbles to the surface of wet, boggy land and blows the top of the soil away forming psuedocraters. They can only be found in Iceland, Hawaii, The Azores, and Mars. Interesting, but this is a strike because it’s a bowl in the ground. 

Four strikes and yet I vowed to keep playing. There was still time remaining in the game.

Keagan was ready to eat again and refused to consider a gas station sandwich as an option. I tried to explain that my frugality is what allows these twice a year adventures, but he didn’t want to hear it. He demanded protein from an animal preferably slow cooked on an open fire. That’s how we found ourselves at Vogafjos Cow Shed for a farm-to-table meal. 

Let me repeat. A cow shed. 

It was a home run for me. While I waited for my hamburger and side salad to be prepared, I went to the barn to pet cows. I petted every single cow. I spoke kind words to every cow and the new born calves. I was in heaven. I returned after I ate my hamburger. 

So did Keagan. Because he ate lamb, he had no qualms getting up close to the cows.

The irony of eating a burger after petting cows is not lost on me. The fact that I won’t pet random dogs, but I’ll pet a cow is not strange at all. 

This stop was a grand slam!

I’m not keen on soaking in hot springs water with the elderly cruisers and the Japanese tourists - even if every guidebook and travel expert claims it is a must-do. But I’m happy to sit in the AirB&B hot tub that I filled with water and sanitized myself. 

Three hours later…That’s how you soak in Iceland.