November 20

It was 10am before it was truely light and once it did then we were off to see some waterfalls. The first was skogarfoss which was right behind the hotel. It is the highest waterfall in Iceland. It was beautiful and you could climb a steep trail and get a nice view from the top as well. Next we drove down the coast and stopped at a cute church. They all seem to be white with a red roof. Makes for nice pictures. From there we went to seljalandsfoss. It a big waterfall that you can walk behind. I had never done that before so I got to check that off my bucket list. All along the cliffs were waterfalls where we walked. You could go between some rocks and get really close to a different one but everyone came out soaked so we decided to pass on that. There was one couple that had rain ponchos on and garbage bags on their feet. They looked ridiculous! As we drove further down the coast we stopped at various view points. The weather got windier and wetter as we went which wasn’t ideal but as least we could warm up in the car between stops. We went to a place that I’ve always wanted to go since first reading about Iceland, reynisfjara. It has the black columns coming out of the black sand and it’s on a wild part of the coast. All the rawness and wildness was neat to see. The rocks all looked perfectly slated together. Crazy! We were both pretty chilled so we went to vik for coffee. It’s a cute town in the very far south. We found a cute lunch place and they had excellent coffee! Then I wanted to do a little shopping so we checked out the grocery store and souvenir shop. Groceries were relatively inexpensive but eating out is crazy. And forget alcohol! Good thing Michael and I aren’t huge eaters. There was a museum in town that had one of the first boats in the area that transported goods to all the little villages. It was a very good little museum. I had no idea so many other boats got stranded on the beaches in earlier times. I guess looking out at the southern coast the ocean looks pretty feisty and there’s no way I’d go on a boat. Amazingly most people were rescued if they got stranded. For dinner we had $85 burger and beers...ouch! It was delicious though! There is a local brewery in town (smiojan brugghis) so we went and sampled some of what they had one tap. They had an impressive 10 beers on tap (all made locally) plus countless bottles. It was a really neat little pub. We got back to the hotel and enjoyed some ice cream that we picked up from the store. Icelandic dairy is pretty good! Then we relaxed in the hot tub and admired the stars. No northern lights yet but hopefully we will see some late tonight!