BREAKFAST WITH THE COWS

I was woken up promptly at 7am to the declarations that it was seven and time to go milk the cows! Ugh. Breakfast wouldn't start until 8 so I reminded the kids it was a special day (Josh's birthday) and urged everyone to attempt to dress themselves. We have the same formula for outfits each day and yet the kids can't figure it out. Long underwear + waterproof pants + fleece. Regardless, we all managed to put our clothes on, get mostly packed up and headed to the restaurant/barn. We were welcomed into the cow portion of the barn where we met the newest baby (She was born yesterday) and all the other cows. I've now been in quite a few cow barns with the kids and I couldn't believe how clean the cows are. I guess if you are going to have a viewing window from an eating establishment into your barn, you must be pretty confident in her cleanliness. We asked more ridiculous questions like "why is there a harness on that cow" or "why does that cow eat lying down like Raven"? and dropped daddy's bday card on the barn floor (sorry). Answers: her udders are too big and she'd step on them and those are obviously the smart cows. This cow craziness made Josh and I break out our new favorite knock knock joke - we looked up a LOT of jokes one day when the kids were bored.

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Cow-go
Cow-go who?
No! Cow go moo!

I know we are hysterical. The kids rolled their eyes and took their tarting cups of fresh milk over to our table. Josh tried very hard to not let the kids drink fresh milk but that was a losing battle. We were happy no one puked. Our daughter - not a fan of fresh milk. Our son - will literally drink anything. Breakfast was quite the spread. With so many different kinds of fresh breads, jams, meats, pates. We filled our bellies and got on the road.

HVERIR
So it is basically a bunch of bubbly mud holes with steam venting out of the earth on big plumes. It smelled of sulphur but something about the constant,y shifting stream made the walk around the holes a bit romantic. We explained three times to the kids how important it was to stay between the ropes and not jump off the path. They wanted to know details about how hot the water really was and what it would do to them. Nothing says peaceful walk like following those questions that left me with little to no comfort that they got it. Halfway through the walk, our son started crying that his hands were falling off. It was cold. We got him back into the heated car so we could finish looking around and taking pictures. I actually had Josh drive is back later so I could get a picture I couldn't earlier. You can't get more convenient than the location right off the road.

KRAFLA
I don't have much of a report for this volcanic area. We ventured in to look for Viti which is supposed to be a green lagoon at the center of a crater. I'm sure it was pretty but we never made it. The road winded around the area for many KMs before just ending in snow. Hmmm. An empty van was in front of us. We looked up on the ridge high above us and some s line of people trekking in a lime, looking like ants. Yep. No chance we would make it up there. So that's as lose as we got. We turned around and stopped at the overlook to get a view of the entire area that main,y consisted of a massive geothermal power plant. We contemplated going into the visitors center to learn more about geothermal but thought the kids might bust.

MYVATN NATURE BATHS
After seeing how much the kids enjoyed Blue Lagoon we thought a visit here would be appreciated it. We hadn't previously planned to go but the pictures looked pretty. And it was a LOT cheaper than the more touristy Blue Lagoon. The BL was glitzy with fancy bathrooms, attendants all over, hidden caves in the pools. Kinda the Disney of natural baths. MNB felt much more local and authentic. It was $40 for all of us combined. They opened at noon so we were there waiting for them to open and were the first people in. I'd guess there were 20 people total when we left. The water felt warmed and we liked the cold pool. It was actually just warm and was nice to cool down before going back to the hot water again. I'd highly recommend a stop there. I'd also suggest putting those orange floaties on your kids even if they are a good swimmer. The steam is so thick it was the only way I could see the kids at times. I'd also recommend NOT listening to the person who works there when she says not to set your hair first - because of how cold it is. Our daughter's hair was a mess this time since we didn't load it with conditioner. I used an entire travel bottle on her afterwards to be able to brush it. It occurred to me when I was dousing her hair in an open shower, how odd we must look. We hadn't seen a single black or biracial person in Iceland. And very few kids. A few Asian families but that was it. Interesting that it took 5 days for me to realize that. I'm usually pretty aware to that.

GAMLI BAERINN
We tried a few places to find lunch. Our first attempt at Daddi's Pizza was shot down because they were closed. We've had about a 25% success rate despite what the Lonely Planet Guide or websites said. We stumbled upon the Gamli Bistro which was cozy and inviting. For the first time on the trip we had too much food. Neither my son or I could finish our soup. Maybe because we ordered some Geysir bread topped with cream cheese and smoked salmon to start. That was delicious. The kids sucked down the homemade hot chocolate with fresh cream like nobody's business. They were in a food coma and asleep before we had barely gotten out of the parking lot.

GODAFOSS
We had a short hour drive this day to get to Akureyri and had not planned to stop at the Godafoss Waterfall. Luckily the kids were asleep so we didn't have to struggle with them falling over the side. This was actually my favorite Waterfall of the trip (so far). The parking lot takes you to the top of the falls. There are no ropes or rails. You could literally wLk into the falls and go plummeting over. I was horrified to watch people scurrying up snow covered ledges to "get s better view". I actually googled "Godafoss tourist death" but nothing came up. The falls were wide and huge. Josh and I took turns looking and then finished our drive.

AKUREYRI
The largest town outside the capital. It was much larger and picturesque than either of us expected. Situated along the fjord and sprawling up the hillside. Reminded us of a mini non-medieval Florence. The timing worked out well so that we could spend Josh's birthday in a modern town. I rented a two bedroom apartment through Airbnb. The location was perfect in the center of town. ACCO apartments above Cafe Berlin. I had emailed back and forth with the owner of Cafe Berlin about having a cake made for Josh. When I checked in (an hour before they were closing) I asked about the cake. Yes, the chocolate cake! For tomorrow? No tonight. Ah, yes. Come back in an hour. An hour later I snuck out of the apartment and picked up a chocolate cake fresh out of the oven with edible snowflakes covering the top. He gave me a cake cover to keep it fresh. It was delicious and still warm when we are it later that night.

DINNER AT RUB23, NO BACKPACKERS, NO BRYGGJAN
We didn't make a dinner reservation but had read about RUB23 and planned to have dinner there. It was close by the apartment and we were quickly seated in the most modern and upscale place we had seen the whole trip. Even the kids menu was super fancy. Our daughter somehow colored the whole permanent menu while we looked for drinks. Great! We were both struggling to find what we wanted. We don't have a problem paying for a nice dinner but it was really pricey. Too pricey to keep the kids quiet, it was pretty stuffy quiet. We were seated for awhile and still no one came to get our drink orders. We made the executive decision and left. We headed over to the Backpackers Hostel that we had passed and the cafe had been busy. It was very hipster cool inside but every table was taken. Josh pulled out his phone and headed to the iheartrekjavik blog that we used for some planning. Based on her review of a quirky restaurant down at the harbour we jumped in the car and hoped third time was a charm. Bryggjan was perfect. A very old industrial building that was filled with wood and warm lighting. I agreed with the review that it felt like it would be a really expensive place, especially in the US but it was pizza, burgers and fish n chips. Our son had been  begging for fish and chips all day. This was perfect. There were three or four other groups there but I think we were the only non-local people. Good birthday dinner. We spent most of dinner making a list of our favorite 38 things about Daddy for his 38th birthday. We discovered that our daughter REALLY likes his hugs. We headed back to the apartment and finished birthday festivities with singing in both English and Chinese, followed by some yummy Icelandic chocolate cake. Happy Birthday Josh!

NORTHERN LIGHTS

We knew when we came that Northern Lights weren't guaranteed. We were coming at the very end of the season but we still held out hope. Josh found a website that showed cloud cover and aurora activity probability by hour. Each night we would check it. Last night was the first night where it looked possible. When we checked in, our host had told us that last night had been a good night and tonight seemed possible. We asked if someone would wake us up. She said that around 10 she goes to bed but that if they are out before then she'd let us know. Everyone had fallen asleep except me when I heard some talking outside the room next door. "Yes you can see them a little bit!" I peeked out our curtains and some some people popping out of rooms. I saw some faint grey streaks in the sky. Hmmm. This is it? I went and woke up Josh who headed out with his gear and tripod. For the next 30 minutes the lights just got more intense forming a dancing lines of smokey lights through the sky. They shot up over our guesthouse, then the mountains, then the glaciers. Changing so quickly we were constantly rearranging our shot. I had no idea what he was doing with the camera so I stood, pointed and awed. I tried to wake up the kids but it was a losing battle. One managed to stumble out the door, look at the sky and declared he was going back to bed. The other wouldn't even get out of bed and cried this morning when she realized she missed it. Considering we aren't professional photographers, nor have we shot anything like this. I think the photos are pretty awesome but for now, the back of the camera shots are all we can show. We are having problems with the card that connects to the iPad and don't want to risk losing the images already shot. Also of note: My iPhone hates Iceland. Every time I take it out in the cold (like dogsledding or Northern Lights) it won't allow me to take photos, shuts down and drains the battery. So that's awesome. So the lesson for this night was that staying with other travelers pays off - you can hear other people freaking out. Kudos to the owner of the guesthouse. She turned off the exterior lights and walked around to knock on every door. I can't imagine having a better viewing experience.

BREAKFAST
We were excited to have someone else cook for us. The common living and dining room was stocked with bread, cereal, meats, cheese, pancakes and dippy eggs. We were the first ones in for breakfast and fueled up while we planned the day. Luckily, Josh asked about his shortcut and was told that was an icy road up a steep mountain, that should be avoided. So yes we will be having a long drive today.

REINDEER
Today's mission is to find reindeer. We saw our first sighting shortly into the drive right after we came out of our first tunnel. Three females drinking between the Ring Road and the ocean. Quite impossible to get pictures since the sun was rising directly behind them. We needed reindeer on the other side of the road and big antlers. Later we found a group of 5 baby reindeer. And then later we stopped when we saw a jig group of reindeer on the side of the road. So if we don't see any more, we are at least covered.

EAST FJORD DRIVING
Much of the day was going to be in the car to get up to Northern Iceland. It's hard to complain when the drive is along the coast through the East Fjords. We would have made much better time if we didn't stop each one of saw something we wanted to look at. The steep cliffs down to black rocky beaches with water crashing against the rocks made for some of the best scenery we had scene on the trip. We made a stop in Djupivogur for snacks and gas. And to our shock the grocery store was open! They had everything. Yarn to knit a sweater, a kit to dye your eyebrows, pretty much anything could need - except contact solution. Ugh. All was not lost as we drove through the cute village and found what I believe to be elf houses!

MOUNTAIN DRIVING
The road then curved inland where we soon ended up in 4 km tunnel through a mountain. I'm used to tunnels but I'm not used to physically seeing the exposed insides of a mountain. It was wild. I think my daughter started asking to go to the bathroom halfway through the mountain. We started driving in between large snow covered mountains. The temp dropped to -7C quickly. Without any events we found our way to the large town in Eastern Iceland where we found a pharmacy! And guess what they had behind the counter! The coveted saline solution. Hallelujah. I will never make that mistake again. After a quick stop for lunch we were back on the road for a long stretch of extreme mountain driving. We had never seen anything like this. I think we were on the outskirts of the highlands. I can best describe it as what I would imagine Egypt to look like if all the sand was snow. And huge hills not pyramids. It was crazy how far the mountains and snow went. We stopped for a photo shoot on the side of the road and the kids went crazy. Running through the snow up to their knees. At one point we suctioned the GoPro to the front of the car to capture the insane drive. That beautiful video lasted about 30 seconds until the GoPro went flying off the car and across the road where it came to rest. It's an amusing video. It was a lot of driving but an awe inspiring day. Josh and I could think of few road trip days that could compare. Maybe that one in Costa Rica when Jered navigated 10 of us on an 8 hour trek through dirt roads that resulted in ) people getting car sick. But seriously we enjoyed. The kids probably not as much. We let them watch Little Mermaid after a couple hours.

DETTIFOSS
I think Josh was considering skipping it but I really needed to get out a bit. Our directions said it was 24 km off the Ring Road and a "short 5 minute walk". So the 24 km was right. But the short walk. It was 800m. My handy units converter tells me that is 1/2 mile. I'm not sure who is trekking through hills at a 10 min/mile pace, but it wasn't us. There was a good 3 feet of snow under our feet. There was a distinct path that was packed down but if you stepped off you went right down. Of course our kids walked off the path every chance they could. I only fell over once, so I saw that as a win. My phone managed to stay alive to get a couple pictures. We got to the viewing platform and could see nothing. The air must have been so cold the water was misting or steaming straight up. This waterfall is supposed to be the strongest in Europe. We did see a double rainbow and for a little bit the wind shifted so we could get a view of the falls down below. The kids wanted to go down the "dangerous" path where you could see closer over a steep ledge. Uh, no. So we just sent Daddy to get pictures. I was now convinced I had frostbite on my toes so we trudged back to the car and made our way to tonight's stop.

VOGAFJOS FARM
I'm pretty sure Josh gets credit for finding this place. They get an extra star because they were the first of our reservations actually expecting us! Yay for that. It is a working farm that has a guesthouse and restaurant. Like everywhere else we have stayed, super nice staff. The farm is right by Lake Myvatn with thermal steam filling the horizon. Several cabins with multiple rooms make up the guesthouse. The reception building is actually the cowshed aka a really nice dairy barn. The left side is the reception, a shop with local artists and the restaurant. The right side is a modern dairy barn. The two are separated with a full glass wall. An alcove of tables lets you eat and watch the cows be milked or fed. For dinner I had hoped to eat at one of the glass surrounded tables overlooking the fields, sunset and geothermal. However the kids wanted to look at cow butts. So... The food was great. They really do everything local. All the dairy is made on the farm. The Geysir bread (like a sweet pumpernickel) is made in their underground bread oven. It was delicious. I decided if ain't broke, don't fix it and got their stew. It was a tomato based vegetable soup with lamb and potatoes added. Yummy and filling. Josh got the lamb shank which was equally good. Of course we had to get their ice cream for dessert - it's a dairy far. The receptionist (I think the older daughter) gave us some details on coming to see the cows in the morning and we headed to bed. Although the nifty ranking only gave it a 2 out of 9 for aurora activity, we woke up at 11:30 to see some okay lights. They didn't last long and were fainter than the night before but they were visible from our beds. Much easier to wake our daughter up for.

WAKING UP IN REYNISFJARA
Our night in Reynisfjara was pretty intense. Although we were some distance from the beach, we could hear the waves crashing against the rocks. The wind was louder than any wind we've ever heard. But shout out to Ragnar for building an airtight cottage. We are so used to hard beds in Europe, that these soft beds have kept Josh and I in bed longer than planned. Thank goodness for having Tarzan on the iPad to buy us an extra hour of sleep. Josh is now convinced we need a 100 sf cabin with a sleeping alcove like last night.

BEATING THE CROWDS
We attempted to beat the buses and crowds of people to visit the black rock beach and basalt stacks. The cave and cliffs must create a wind tunnel. Our visit was quicker than it might have been if it weren't snowing and knocking our five year old down. We did race in front of a bus to get the stacks to ourselves for some photos. I bet the sunset the night before was gorgeous from down on the beach.

FOSS & SIDU
At some point during today's drive I got very confused. I'm not sure if it was the children asking to eat every 15 minutes or the remembering to not let the car doors fly open. Whatever it was, I couldn't keep up with my Lonely Planet book, Josh's photography location guide and the itineraries I had pinned. So I'm sure the were tons of cool stuff we just drove by. So when we saw the slightly frozen waterfall on the side of the road we pulled over. I then realized this was one of our planned stops perfect. You couldn't get very close yo the falls but it was super loud and gorgeous. It wasn't spraying upside down like it sometimes does.

DVERGHAMRAR
This was a random group of rock outcroppings. The board at the fence entrance indicated there was a myth that elves lived in the rocks. Well all I had to mention was "elf" and the kids were infatuated. They climbed all through the rocks knocking, peeking and listening for elves singing. It was quite cute to see how interested they were in something that seemed so simple. We had also brought our waterproof camera for our son to use on the trip. Today he spent a lot of time demanding that we stop for a photo. I'm curious to see what he has been capturing it.

HOF
HOF is a tiny little town but I had read that they had a storybook church made of timber and peat moss. Church? Grass roof? Sold. It was really picturesque but I had trouble getting a good picture. I hate when that happens. I was wishing we had found the church a day earlier and could have filled one of the 12 benches inside. I then realized church would have been in Icelandic and I was satisfied with our quiet visit today.

JOKULSARLON GLACIER LAGOON
Let me preface this section by saying that the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon was one of the parts I was most excited about. I'd seen so many amazing photos. We also had planned a couple other stops before this but I've finally learned. We can only do so much in one day - especially with kids. I know. Crazy thoughts. So when the kids started taking apart ink pens in the backseat and making up nonsensical knock knock jokes, I made the executive decision to go directly to Jokulsarlon and bypass the other stops. So we started on the beach side of the road at the aptly named, Icy Beach. This is where pieces of glacier have made their way to the ocean and washed ashore the black beaches. Some sections were quite beautiful. And we had it to ourselves. We then headed over the road to check out the glacier lagoon. I'm not sure what I was expecting. Huge glacier chunks that were the size of buildings? There was one large one in the middle. But I wanted to get close and see some crystal blue ice. I saw one piece. Way on the other side of the lagoon that we couldn't reach. We walked as far as we could go. The kids kept barking to try and convince the seals to come closer. They didn't. Our daughter managed to slam her walking stick into her eye. Our son took off climbing ice covered hills. We explored as long as we could without a major accident in the middle of nowhere.

SLEEPING
Our home base for tonight is the Seljavellir Guesthouse in Hofn. A simple building with modern motel type rooms. Huge bathrooms, common living room and breakfast in the morning. Not to mention a gorgeous view of the mountains end glaciers. We splurged and got two rooms. We needed some time to separate the kids. The host was again super nice and brought the kids ANOTHER one of those chocolate eggs. My word we have a lot of chocolate. The are mind melding  and becoming insane. We cleaned up and headed out for dinner in Hofn.

KAFFI HORNID
We were beyond excited to find more than one restaurant open. The top ranked place was empty so we opted for the log cabin restaurant that had people in it. Halfway through dinner all the tables were full and they were turning away people who came in. Hofn is a small fishing village that is known for lobster. So of course I had the lobster bisque (again it's all about the soups) and Josh got the grilled lobster tails. The highlight of our meal might have been that each could insisted on wearing bunny ears to dinner. Normal. We ended the night driving through the harbourside of Hofn at sunset. That view might be one of my favorites yet. The houses along the water get one spectacular backyard. We finished by looking for reindeer at the watering hole but weren't lucky yet.

TODAYS LESSON: ENJOY THE UNPLANNED
It's pretty easy to get so stuck on plans that we miss the really special stuff with our family. Before today I'd never guess that my favorite parts of today would be watching the kids hunt for magical creatures or doing a family sing along to "I Know What You Did Last Summer" at the top of our kings. But they were. And I'm completely satisfied and thankful for that. To share in the wonder that is a five year old singing pop songs with bunny ears: https://instagram.com/p/BDgeKHlrMG5/