I Think it's Going to Rain Today.

I was vaguely aware throughout the night that it was raining. And what I mean by that is when I woke up, I knew it had rained all night but I don't really recall being awake a lot. I've been able to sleep quite well in Mr. Happy! Who knew all I needed to get over the mono was come sleep in a van in Iceland? Getting more quality sleep here per night than I ever do at home.

Anyway -- it was raining. A good solid rain but not a soaker and no thunder or lightning. There was a small kaffi shop that opened at 9. We went in and got a coffee and a donut. Liked it better than American donuts -- it wasn't overly sweet. A nice thin layer of icing.

Despite the rain, we took off driving. Dave likes the overcast skies and generally most conditions other than full sunshine. However, it is hard to take pics in constant rain. We decided to keep on driving -- hoping eventually we'd drive right out of it. Here's the view along the way!

At one turn out, I found this sign. Pretty funny. 

Stopped for lunch which seems to be our thing. Breakfast and dinner in the RV but lunch out. We were in a little town famous for lobster so lobster sandwiches it was -- crazy good!!

This country loves a monument. We find interesting things like this everywhere we go. This guy was sitting on a cliff overlooking the sea.

Reminded me of the northern Cali coastline:) Ok, minus the lava sand beach.

So, another interesting thing about Iceland are the prevalence of public bathrooms. There is no concept of "bathroom for customers only" like we see in the states. Most towns, in fact, post the location of the WCs on their town map which is found on the information boards we always go to first. So, check this one out -- we see the sign here on the left of this pic and then you can see another one on the right (the far side of the building) So, we followed the signs around the building.

 And we came to this door. We just sat there for a moment wondering if we should really go in there. Finally, we did. And sure enough, there were very clean, very nice public bathrooms just inside. What a hoot.

After that, it was still raining and we decided we'd just grab a cup of coffee and chill for a bit. We found a nice little kaffi almost right on top of the building with the WC. When we went inside, we were surprised -- it was crowded with locals, there were a lot of kids, everyone was eating cake. As we say here, "didn't see that one coming!"

So, we ordered coffee and cake. When in Rome (or Berufjordur) and all...

 

Dave decided if it was going to be raining and gross, we might as well head on over the mountains in the hopes of finding better weather. So, we started driving and came across this lovely spot.

God gave us this huge, awesome rainbow to enjoy:)

Then, Dave started driving over the mountain pass. It got foggier and was still raining. There was a lot of snow all around but the roads were perfectly clear. It was rather harrowing -- hard to see, we didn't know the road at all, weren't sure the total elevation gain we were going, etc. Dave did great -- kept it in low gear (Mr. Happy does not excel in acceleration nor in power) and kept me talking about my sweetie so I wouldn't be thinking about the scary mountain pass:)

Here's a few shots. I didn't take any when it was really bad -- so don't think these are representative of what I'd consider scary!

Once we made it to the other side, the weather was great! We were in a town called Egilsstadir, which our tour book promised was impossible to find charming. Turns out that is true. Nothing wrong with the town, but not nearly as charming as others. It did have everything we needed -- gas, grocery store (Bonus, which is one of the cheaper stores) kaffi, etc.

Anyway -- weather here is interesting -- it can vary a lot in a very small distance. This is mainly due to the wind. There is a great website for checking the weather around the country -- one of the maps is always for wind. We use it everyday. You can see it here.

We were tired of being in the van escaping the rain, so we went for a hike up to a waterfall -- Fardagafoss. Turned out to be gorgeous, of course, and another compound series of falls. So, we climbed and climbed. Felt good to be face-in-the-sun and breathing the fresh air. We hiked through some huge masses of snow that remain. The locals have been telling us what a difficult winter they had -- our evidence is that it is summer in full effect -- 24 hours of sun -- and the snow remains, roads are still closed, etc.

I picked up some of the snow and then had a great idea -- we needed to capture some to put in our drink later! Iceland is like Europe -- no ice in drinks.

After our hike, we took a look at the map trying to figure out where to "go" for dinner. I always cook dinner in the RV, but we like finding a cool place to park to do so. There is a huge lake, Lagarfljot, just passed the main town we were near. We decided to head towards the lake and look for a good dinner spot. We found one! The lake is rumored to have its own version of the Loch Ness Monster...we looked all over but never saw it:(

The rest of the evening, Dave stomped around through the pine "forest" we found ourselves in and I washed the dishes, read my book, chatted with my sweetie, and relaxed. We camped just outside a campground on the lake in the arboretum. Great spot, totally alone, with a really nice WC!