We were pretty proud that we only left the house 30 minutes behind schedule on Day 5! We also remembered all of our coats, shoes, tube feeding supplies, food, medicine, and diapers and wipes that were needed for the day!
We experienced beautiful weather to start our third day in Iceland!
Located a short 12 minute drive from our Icelandic home, our first stop of the day was Kerið, a volcanic crater filled with beautiful aquamarine-colored water. The red volcanic rock surrounding the cauldron is steep on three quadrants, but visitors can descend the fourth with relative ease.
Cassy, Amanda, Eilidh, and Noah can be spotted in the upper right quadrant of this photo.
The older kids enjoyed hiking the trail around the crater before we followed the path to the lake. Both Noah and Emmie had multiple slips and falls on the rocky path but found their efforts justified when they were able to throw rocks into the water at the bottom.
Eilidh fell asleep after our return to the car, and Emmie was documenting with Noah’s camera.
After a quick a quick stop at a gas station for some water, we had a bit of a drive to our next stop: the Seljalandsfoss waterfall. Despite some less-than-ideal weather, the waterfall yielded some of our favorite family photos from our last Iceland adventure, making Brian and I excited to see photos from a sunny day!)
The weather was perfect, and the favorable conditions made it so that we were able to complete a steep and rather muddy hike to the backside of the waterfall. It was quite misty and, despite rain coats, our clothes took on some water, but all-in-all it was worth the effort. Eilidh may have been the least enthusiastic about the hike, but her occasional protests could not be heard over the roar of the falls.
Lunch featured a return visit to a Vik gas station for hot dogs, albeit this time the crowd was seemingly tenfold compared to our last stop. On the drive from Seljalandsfoss to Vik, the infamous Iceland weather descended on us from the sky. The temperature dropped nearly 20 degrees (Fahrenheit) over the 45-minute drive, while the sky went from blue and clear to grey and foggy.
Brian and Cassy devoured two hot dogs in Vik.
Cassy and I both preferred the gas station hot dogs to those we had at the famous Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur from yesterday. One key difference was we could top these ourselves; the gas station clerk added the onions and French friend onions, but customers controlled the amount of ketchup, mustard, and remoulade. After lunch, Cassy and I did a few minutes of shopping at the wool store next door while Brian wrangled the kids to the car.
Keeping in the tradition of our last trip, Noah ate an ice cream cone after finishing his hot dog.
Up Next: Returns to the black sand beach and Mýrdalsjökull glacier.