We had a good sleep last night. I woke up super early, though. I think we're adjusting to the time change. It was easy to drive the few kilometers to the little commuter airport in time for our 8:30 flight to Grímsey.
We checked in and bought some breakfast there. We waited. The flight to Reykjavik, scheduled after ours, took off. We waited. We decided we should ask about our flight as we didn't see another plane nearby. It was being delayed due to fog on Grímsey Island. We waited. They said they would have another report in half an hour at 9:30.
I think we read every scrap of information posted anyplace in that airport. With no internet access and no nearby caches to be found, there was nothing else to do. We waited.
9:30 they announced that there was still fog and that they wouldn't get another report until 10:30. I talked to the agent at the desk and found out that if they left 2 hours late at 10:30, they would stay in Grímsey an additional 2 hours as well, meaning we would return at 1:30 pm at the very earliest.
Based on where we were staying that night, it would mean skipping some of the best of the earthcaches we had planned to visit, and still getting in rather late. And, of course, the there was no guarantee that the flight would leave at 10:30.
I asked Liz if she thought it would be wisest to cancel our flights, and she agreed without hesitation. I asked the agent if our money could be refunded, and he said no problem. We did the necessary paperwork and headed to the car.
It's good I was driving so I couldn't shed tears of disappointment. Grímsey Island is the best place to see roosting (not roasting) puffins. You can also cross the Artic Circle there. I wanted to place an earthcache there. All in all, it was a huge disappoint for me. I suspect Liz had agreed to this plan because she knew how much I wanted it. So there is something in my bucket list book that I thought I would get to cross out that still remains for me to accomplish - cross the Arctic Circle. (on foot - I suspect that we did that during our flights to and from home)
(Some of this is/will be repeated information, partly because I forget exactly what I have already said, and partly because I want it all written on the correct days should I ever print this.)
Our first goal was finding a cache for which I had solved a crossword puzzle in German to get the correct coordinates. I had planned to skip this one, but with our extra time, it was a pleasant little side trip about 16 kilometers round trip. We passed some farmhouses and plenty of sheep while going there.
Sheep - they are everywhere. On hillsides, on mountainsides, next to the road, but rarely on the road. In a few places we even found fake sheep - like sheep-shaped billboards planted in the ground. More about sheep when I write about the GSA tour.
Taken from the car while Liz was driving - they aren't real.
Then we had a drive on the Ring Road to our first earthcache destination that day - Goðafoss. I should explain that the Ring Road circles the main part of Iceland. It is called 1. Not route or highway, just 1. Our first 4 days were "doing the ring" and we took only short side trips off 1 to get earthcaches or stay the night. I wish they had some kind of souvenir that read "I did the ring." I would have bought one.
Goðafoss - a stunning waterfalls. I'm not sure how much of the history you want to know, so the following paragraph, taken from another text, is your choice whether or not to read. Alþingi was their early parliament and we visited that location later on the tour.
"Goðafoss is closely connected with one of the most important event in Icelandic history, the conversion to Christianity from heathendom or “the old custom” in the year 1000. At that time Þorgeir Þorkelsson, chieftain from nearby Ljósavatn was lawspeaker in Iceland. As such he was faced with the task of settling the growing disputes between Christians and those who worshipped the old Nordic gods. Despite being a heathen priest himself, he decided that all of Iceland should be Christian, as is famously recorded in the Sagas. Legend has it that, once he returned back to Ljósavatn from this historic Alþingi, he dispensed of his heathen gods by throwing them into the falls in a symbolic act of the conversion. This, according to the legend, is how Goðafoss got its name."
Goðafoss
Off to the pseudocraters. These are the results of volcanoes, but aren't cones or vents, and don't have underlying geothermal activity. Simply put, they are places where hot lava crosses over wet areas, the moisture heats up, steam explosions occur, and then collapse to leave a cavity. The lava wall has cooled enough to remain by the time this happens.
We were ahead of schedule and stopped at what we thought was an information center. Actually, it was the check-in place for campers, so all we did there was use their facilities. Then off to the info center where I asked about the marimo balls. We were directed to the bird museum. OK, not sure I see the connection. I also discovered that they are known as marimo, but no one knows what you are talking about unless you call them marimo balls or algae balls.
I hadn't really talked about marimo to Liz because I thought we wouldn't have enough time to stop to see them. I had read a little note about them in a tour book, and then researched them on-line. With the extra time on our hands, I suggested stopping to see them. She probably thought I was crazy.
Before heading to the museum, we stopped at a local grocery store and bought food, including Skyr (my new addiction) and Lava Bread - bread that is baked in the ground using heat from steam vents. I like it, particularly if it has lots of butter on it.
Marimo are algae balls found in only two places they currently know of on earth. Lake Myvatn in Iceland and a lake in Japan. However, today we learned that they may have found some in Estonia. In Japanese, Mari means bouncy ball and Mo is a term for plants that grow in water.
In the museum, there is a pathway over a tiny pond. This is where the curator took us. She probably saw the longing in my eyes, and after a bit reached down and took one out of the water to show us and squeeze water out of it. I asked if I could touch it and ended up holding it. She seemed pleased that we knew and asked about them. She said that locally they are called kúluskítur which means "balls of shit." It still makes me giggle a bit to think of us on our knees by this little pond playing with a ball of shit in a stuffed bird museum.
This made up for missing Grímsey, because I can see puffins and cross the Artic Circle elsewhere, but I doubt I will get to Lake Akin in Japan any time soon. Sometimes it's the little things that matter.
Off to Dimmuborgir, land of the trolls. Oh, what stories here. Nasty troll parents and 13 sons with names that fit their desires. I'd like to join the Sausage Swiper - somehow I think I'd eat well. The land forms, all lava, were incredible.
The troll cave - no one was home
Do you see the trolls?
The Queen of Trolls sitting on her throne
While Liz was buying some books and other gifts, I went outside and took a few more photos of Troll Land.
We stopped at Mývatn Nature Baths to gather earthcache information and decided to do more earthcaching rather than soaking in the baths there.
The next stop had us driving down a very nasty, bumpy, rutty road with no pullouts for passing. I was ready to turn around and head back out, but let Liz talk me into continuing the drive and once there I also needed a bit of prodding before climbing to the top of a tuff ring volcano.
At the top - success
View from the top
See our rental car way down there?
Bubble, bubble, toil and not trouble
Before leaving, I had done research on the best way to get to see Dettifoss on the Jökulsá á Fjöllum river, flowing from the Vatnajökull glacier. (foss is Icelandic for falls) Trusting that information we set out, crossing our fingers in hopes that my information was correct. The road was so new that the Nuvi didn't have it to guide us, and the Nuvi is less than 2 years old. I'm so glad I had looked at it carefully with the Google Map man. We simply followed signs, and all went well. Blessings on you, little Google Map Man.
Joy at the foss (Dettifoss)
True majesty
This is the largest falls in Iceland, and possibly in all of Europe. We got wet from all directions, and even walked through some puddles on a walk of about 1 kilometer south to see the sister falls, Selfoss. Because Selfoss is so spread out, you find it difficult to believe that the same amount of water is flowing over both of them.
Selfoss - many small falls making one
After this stop, we pretty much just drove to the pod where we were staying that night in Egilsstaðir. It was a cute little hut, but not very roomy. We had to walk up a trail for a few hundred feet to the shared bathroom. Fun for once, but I wouldn't do it again. Too much like camping, but a lot more expensive.
We headed into town for dinner and the only thing open was - I hate to say this - a Subway. Fortunately we had purchased some Skyr at our grocery stop earlier, so we could supplement our Teriyaki chicken salads with that once back at the pod.
I have a new addiction. It's as bad or worse than my chocolate addiction. It's Skyr. It looks similar to yogurt, but is totally different and much, much better. The folks here say it's actually a type of cheese. I couldn't get enough of it while in Iceland, and now that I'm home, I've been researching and find that it's available on the East Coast and in California. Should I move?
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