DAY 5: VATNAJOKULL GLACIER HIKE and JOKULSARLON GLACIER LAGOON BOAT TOUR

Monday, May 29, 2017: Today, we had two excursions pre-booked. First, we hiked on the Vatnajokull glacier. It was intense and amazing at the same time. It ended up being much more intense than I thought it would be. We were on the ice for more than two hours and parts of it were pretty treacherous. Michael was amazing! The guide, Claus, said Michael was impressive. He told us that he normally has to tether the kids to him but not Michael! We were really proud of him, his mad-glacier-hiking skills, and his bravery!

After our hike, we stopped at a gas station/ store/ restaurant for lunch. $15 for Michael's hamburger combo, $9 for an order of mozzerella cheese sticks, and $28.50 for each of mine and Mike's fish and chips meals. Oh, and $3 for a soda. Grand lunch total, with the crazy 11% tax: $86.70. The fried cod was delicious (but no cod is worth that much money!).

 

Our second excursion was a boat tour of the Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon. It was beautiful. We even got to eat a piece of the pure ice. Michael ate two pieces. We saw seals again (but sadly, they are fast little buggers so I couldn't get a picture. Mike captured them, though. His pictures will be coming later...probably much later!). 

We have been staying at the Fosshotel Vatnajokull these last 2 nights. We are checking out tomorrow morning and heading to a seclusive cabin that looks beautiful from the photos. While there is nothing wrong with this hotel, there is just nothing magical about it either. It does have a free breakfast buffet, which is probably saving us one million dollars! I'm glad that this is the only hotel we will be staying at for the whole trip. This is the view from the bed, though, so that is not too shabby!

FROM MICHAEL:

I got to go on a glacier today. It was awesome. This was the most exciting day yet!

(No The end today! Can you tell how much he loved it?!)

FROM MIKE:

Day 4 in contacts.

MY RANDOM THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY:

Our dinner consisted of ramen noodles and pasta carbonara in a cup. This is because lunch was so expensive.

This expensive food business is annoying...still. WE NEED TO FIND A GROCERY STORE SOON!

The landscape is just magnificent. I can't image a more beautiful place on earth.

It's still hard to sleep when it never gets dark, not even for an hour.

I am so excited that we still have 10 days left!!!

DAY 4: SKOGAFOSS and SOLHEIMASANDUR PLANE CRASH

Sunday, May 28, 2017: We left the beautiful Garage apartment and headed east further into south Iceland. We stopped at the magnificent Skogafoss waterfall. We ate lunch at a restaurant right there with a view of the falls. So, while the view was great, the prices were not...again. We had 3 cheeseburgers and fries and it was $78. Since lunch is so much money, for dinners we eat sandwiches or stop and get gas station hot dogs (which is a thing and they are good). Even the hot dog dinner ends up costing us $33 with drinks.

We then walked the 2.5 miles to the famous Solheimasandur plane crash. It took us an hour to get there. We spend more than an hour at the site. We then had to walk the 2.5 miles back, which took us 1 hour and 15 minutes. The walk back was tough. It was pretty cool, so it ended up being worth it. My feet are still recovering, though. My hiking boots are turning out to be a tad too tight, which this is a bad time to figure that out because they are the only shoes I brought.

On November 24, 1973, a US Navy Douglas Super DC-3 plane was forced to crash land on Solheimasandur's black sand beaches due to severe icing. Luckily, all crew members survived the crash, but the plane's fuselage was abandoned. It is now a photographer's dream location.

Then, as we were driving, we happened to come across the world's third largest glacier, Vatnajokull.

 

Then, we stumbled across an iceberg lagoon. There were seals. We saw seals. It was exciting.

 I was trying to be fancy in this last picture.

FROM MICHAEL:

I had to walk for an hour to see a plane crash. The end.

FROM MIKE:

I haven't seen the night sky in 4 days.

MY RANDOM THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY:

It cost $20 for a quarter tank of gas. 

I really want a nice dinner out but am petrified of the price, so hot dogs it is for now. 

Around every turn is another amazing view. It is just so beautiful here. 

I wonder how one goes about buying a house here? We haven't seen any for sale signs or realtor advertisements. 

Where do children go to school in Iceland. We haven't seen any schools. 

If I knew grocery stores were so few and far between, we would have stocked up at Bonus in Reykjavik.