We made coffee and ate some morning Skyr. We're both addicted to the stuff these days. There are not only lots of flavors but there are different thicknesses, too. Some larger cups are drinkable. Smaller cups are nice and thick more like a greek yogurt.
I'm so glad that I brought some food with us – if you recall, in my first post, I had a pic of the various food things I brought. We've got a nice system going of eating Skyr in the mornings that we doctor up with walnuts and granola that I brought along. Generally, we're out for lunch. We eat a snack mid afternoon, usually nuts or dried fruit that I brought. Maybe a granola bar or a new local fave, a Prince Polo, which is sort of a chocolate wafer cookie of sorts. Dinner is typically “out of a bag” as Dave says. I brought a bunch of dehydrated meals with us. While you might normally not think they are they best things ever, we are generally so hungry and ready to eat that by the time I've cooked one up, it tastes fantastic!
Grocery stores here are plentiful. Most towns of really any size whatsoever have a grocery. As is typical in the states, there are different kinds of groceries and some are cheaper than others. We first shopped at a Kronan but since then look for Bonus. Bonus is much cheaper:)
Our little fridge in the RV holds a decent amount. We can put 4 Skyrs, a small G Myolk (whole milk for my coffee), a couple of cokes, some Icelandic cheese and butter, and some small bottles of liquor.
Anyway, we ate, executed lock down procedures (we learned the hard way that we must execute lock down procedures! Easy to forget and leave things sitting out in the back and then start driving down the road).
The countryside is beautiful. Everywhere we go, it is gorgeous. We passed a lot of sheep – all the mamas have just had their young and I'm desperately in love with the baby sheep. Sweet mama dog, they are so stinkin' cute. I keep trying to pet one, snuggle one, steal one. Strangely, there are a ton of black sheep here. I think it is so extra cute to see a mama with one white and one black baby. Anyway, sheep are plentiful in this country.
As we circled behind and around the lake, we came to an old monastery. It was beautiful and on some very lovely grounds. Dave walked around taking some pictures and I went inside to investigate lunch options. There was a lunch buffet being set up so we decided to go for it. Man oh man – am I glad we did! Lamb, chicken, reindeer meatballs, mushroom soup, homemade bread (oh the bread here is INSANELY good), salad, quiche, cake, cookies, coffee. Seriously amazing. The reindeer wasn't my fave and we had just seen some reindeer running around in the grasslands so I felt a bit guilty, but I tried it.
So, now that we were stuffed, it was time to hike up a foss! We made a stop into the new and incredibly slick looking visitor center next door (ish). There was a nice exhibition set up inside that had some displays on the animal life here. There really aren't a lot of animals and really no predatory animals to speak of. The field mouse, mink, and arctic foxes are really it – other than the livestock (cows, sheep) and the Icelandic ponies. Tons and tons of birds. I hate birds. Truly. If you know me, you know I don't like birds. The exception are sea birds/tropical birds. I like sea gulls, macaws, puffins. Anyway, I looked at the display about the birds – yeah yeah, whatever. I did see one bird that was completely camouflaged with its egg – white with black spots. Fine. I admit that is cool.
Ok – now, foss time! It was SO beautiful. Warm and sunny. We stripped down into our t-shirts but we've been here long enough already to know better – so we packed jackets, hats, etc. to bring along. Remember – 10 feet away it could be completely different. We packed up our water bottles, snacks, jackets and headed up the hill. You know you're in for a walk when you're going to the 2nd tallest waterfall. This was was gonna be a 5K round trip. A 5K is nothing to me. I generally walk 7+ miles a day – but not normally straight up a mountain:)
So, on and on we walked. It was stunning – a typical compound waterfall. And, we could stop and turn around and see the gorgeous lake below us. About half way up, we started wondering if we'd be able to cross the river – With the tremendous amount of snowfall – which is now melting – the streams and waterfalls are crazy. Sure enough...after climbing a bit more we determined we wouldn't be able to cross the river. The bridge was underwater:) Such a bummer – really wanted to go all the way to the top. But, as we're growing accustomed to saying, really doesn't matter much – everywhere we go it is gorgeous and there is no shortage of fosses! So, we scrambled our way back to the bottom. Dave needed to rest his back for about 15 minutes. The camera backpack he carries is pretty heavy and that was a steep hike. I grabbed my book and just crashed out right on the sweet Icelandic grass:)
It felt great to be in the sunshine and relax. The air here is fantastic. So perfectly pure. I'm not sure there is anywhere in the world anymore where you can say there is no pollution, but this might be the closest I've ever been to it. Speaking of, there are also very few people here who smoke. We almost never see anyone smoking – it isn't allowed inside anywhere.
We loaded up back, and returned to Eglisstadir briefly. We'd somehow managed to lose Dave's hat and tried to stop in at the local 66 degrees store (sorta like a North Face company with its own store). They were closed. Most places close pretty early – generally nothing open past 8 and sometimes not even past 6 in these smaller towns. Egilsstadir is a decent sized town, but still. No luck. We didn't want to spend the night there, though, so Dave drove us back over the mountains (less harrowing this time!) to Seydisfjordur. This is an adorable little town at the inner most point of a fjord. The car ferry to Europe comes in port here. I didn't even know there was one!
We saw more people outside in this town than anywhere else so far. Cool! We found the campground and parked the RV. I wanted to walk over to a pub we saw when we drove in and have a beer. So, we did. We tried another Icelandic amber ale. Delicious. We skyped mom and dad (and grandma and grandpa) while sitting outside enjoying our brews. It was a little chilly, but not bad.
We drove way out to the edge of the fjord and saw this totally scary looking river crossing. The guy did it well, but mercy -- better him than me!
Dinner on the fjord.
Look at this sweet baby sheep face.
The view from our outside pub table. Such a cute little port town.
Prepped to skype with mom and dad.
Afterwards, Dave opted to walk around town and take more pics and I stayed back in the RV. I read, chatted with the sweetie and got the van ready for bed. Another blissful day in Iceland.
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