Our last day here but we couldn't set off without stopping by this cute coffee shop that was located inside a school bus called Skool Beans right at the campground. We heard the stories of the cat who lives there and I got some fancy hot chocolate.
We were headed to another waterfall, Háifoss, but it was raining and overcast. James, Harris, and I had our fill of waterfalls at this point so I suggested we check out a Lava Museum that we had passed a few miles back. We turned around and checked it out while Jeremy and Jillian continued on. It was actually quite amazing for a museum...a place where I could see a school taking a trip to teach their students all about volcanoes. They had quite a few interactive exhibits, including a giant globe with a projection on it from above. There was a railing around it and when you would rotate the railing, the globe showed you the movement of the techtonic plates over the millenia. They had quite a few other interactive exhibits as well, which were all impressively well done, especially for this random building we discovered on the side of the road.
We stopped for lunch in the town of Selfoss) while we waited for Jeremy and Jillian to catch up from their excursion. We then met up at the Kerið Crater. There was a small fee to enter and a trail where you could hike around the edge, and another down to the water's surface. I got a neat shot from water level with the reflection.
Since it was our last day, James, Harris, and I decided that our favorite activity of the trip was the hot springs so we found one called Secret Lagoon and headed there. Jeremy and Jillian joined us initially but then they wanted to continue driving to their hotel. That hotel was sold out by the time we booked so we couldn't stay with them anyway. We enjoyed the hot springs for a while to relax and learned how they blend the 100°C water from the geyser with the water in the pool to keep it at a constant temperature.
After that, we joined Jeremy and Jillian at their Ion Adventure Hotel for dinner and headed back towards Reykjavík where we needed to fly out the next morning. Along the way, I saw this bright red flame off in the distance against the pitch black night sky. As we slowly got closer, it was clear that it was a volcano. We read on the news that it had just started erupting a couple days ago! If we had an extra day, we could have hiked up to it but instead, we kept on to the Hafnarfjörður campground where we spent the night.
The next morning, we woke up, got our COVID-19 rapid tests, returned the RV, and headed to the airport.
Iceland was an amazing country and I'd definitely recommend anyone check it out. It seems to be quite popular with my Facebook feed this year as the country is 95% vaccinated and folks are eager to get out of the country. If I had to do it again, I'd probably take a few more days so we weren't so rushed, especially with the first few days where we had a lot of driving to do. Staying in the RV was definitely a great way to see the countryside. I wish we could have seen the aurora so when we go back, I'll hopefully go a little later in the season and I'll make sure to spend some time looking up at the sky before heading to bed.
We were headed to another waterfall, Háifoss, but it was raining and overcast. James, Harris, and I had our fill of waterfalls at this point so I suggested we check out a Lava Museum that we had passed a few miles back. We turned around and checked it out while Jeremy and Jillian continued on. It was actually quite amazing for a museum...a place where I could see a school taking a trip to teach their students all about volcanoes. They had quite a few interactive exhibits, including a giant globe with a projection on it from above. There was a railing around it and when you would rotate the railing, the globe showed you the movement of the techtonic plates over the millenia. They had quite a few other interactive exhibits as well, which were all impressively well done, especially for this random building we discovered on the side of the road.
We stopped for lunch in the town of Selfoss) while we waited for Jeremy and Jillian to catch up from their excursion. We then met up at the Kerið Crater. There was a small fee to enter and a trail where you could hike around the edge, and another down to the water's surface. I got a neat shot from water level with the reflection.
Since it was our last day, James, Harris, and I decided that our favorite activity of the trip was the hot springs so we found one called Secret Lagoon and headed there. Jeremy and Jillian joined us initially but then they wanted to continue driving to their hotel. That hotel was sold out by the time we booked so we couldn't stay with them anyway. We enjoyed the hot springs for a while to relax and learned how they blend the 100°C water from the geyser with the water in the pool to keep it at a constant temperature.
After that, we joined Jeremy and Jillian at their Ion Adventure Hotel for dinner and headed back towards Reykjavík where we needed to fly out the next morning. Along the way, I saw this bright red flame off in the distance against the pitch black night sky. As we slowly got closer, it was clear that it was a volcano. We read on the news that it had just started erupting a couple days ago! If we had an extra day, we could have hiked up to it but instead, we kept on to the Hafnarfjörður campground where we spent the night.
The next morning, we woke up, got our COVID-19 rapid tests, returned the RV, and headed to the airport.
Iceland was an amazing country and I'd definitely recommend anyone check it out. It seems to be quite popular with my Facebook feed this year as the country is 95% vaccinated and folks are eager to get out of the country. If I had to do it again, I'd probably take a few more days so we weren't so rushed, especially with the first few days where we had a lot of driving to do. Staying in the RV was definitely a great way to see the countryside. I wish we could have seen the aurora so when we go back, I'll hopefully go a little later in the season and I'll make sure to spend some time looking up at the sky before heading to bed.