A LATE MORNING
We took advantage of the large apartment and had a leisurely morning sleeping in and taking showers in a normal sized bathroom. It was surprisingly quiet considering we were in the heart of the city. It has become apparent that Icelandic people don't tend to get up early. We go to bed too early to say whether they stay up late. The kids were excited to have a TV even though it only had one English Channel. The previous night they had watched a documentary about the Russian circus. This morning we found them watching an inappropriate episode of Dr. Phil. A side note: all the stoplight in the city have hearts. I LOVE that. 

BLAA KANNAN CAFE
After checking out and making sure we had a parking spot for our car (free parking only until 10) we got a cake box and headed a block over to the coffee shop we saw the night before. Really cute place in a bright blue house. Grabbed a table by the window while Josh ordered some food. Setting was super chill and I could see myself sipping coffee and working there as a third place. The food was just okay. The quiche was a bit flavorless and the kids didn't like the cream cheese on their bagels. They still haven't grasped that all the dairy tastes different and that French fries don't come with all burgers.

HVAMMSTANGI
The town we were spending the night in was only about 2 hrs away. The kids took their normal nap while we drove. The only stop was to play with some horses on the side of the road. Those animals have quite the personality. I swear they were posing for pics behind their electric fence. We had contemplated driving into the Westfjords a bit to explore. However it looked like all the good places yo hit were atleast a 4 hour drive one way. Now I see why people do the Westfjords as a completely separate trip. I bet they would be great in Summer. They looked completely white in every view we got of them. Instead we stopped at the Seal Centre, labeled as Selasetur Islands. Downstairs was a space dedicated to information on the many types of seals and seal souvenirs. We got a map and were directed to all the seal beaches around the Vatnsnes Peninsula . The seals are around all year but tend to only come in at low tide. We were right at high tide. Regardless we took the challenge and started out on the 100km loop. The first beach was beautiful but completely abandoned. No seals. We stood and enjoyed the view. All of a sudden our daughter screamed "I see a seal!" Both Josh and I groaned. The whole trip our son has been screaming about flying fish sightings. They were actually just rocks causing whitecaps. But we looked. And sure enough there was a seal. His head and neck stretched out of the water checking us out. Of course we didn't bring the telephoto lens so we don't have great phototographic proof. It ended up being the only seal we would see all day. We had fun seal searching though. We also found Hvitserkur, the giant rock formation right off the shoreline. Josh scrambled down the hillside to get a good shot for us.

SJAVARBORG
The woman at the seal Centre told us to have dinner at Gauksmyri's restaurant as we finished the loop. We were hungry after all our seal searching and were ready for dinner. However, the restaurant wasn't open. Instead the told us to go to their other restaurant - above the Seal Centre. Okay. So we headed back there. According to Lonely Planet this restaurant is brand new. It hadn't opened yet when they published. Considering we were a bit in the middle of nowhere it was a surprisingly large and chic place. Glass windows overlooking the harbour. The menu was more inventive than anything we had found yet. I'm not sure where all these people came from but there were several parties by the time we finished.

HORSE BACK RIDING
I'm not sure what all these horses are doing in this country. What are they breeding them for? I should Google that or maybe read it in my book. The kids have been begging to ride. Before we set out on our seal expedition we tried to go. Josh asked the seal lady for a place and she gave us a farm down the road. We tried asking three different people. No one speaking English and pointing us somewhere else. We finally found the person running the horse rides. He was going out on a ride for an hour but told us to come back and the kids could ride in the ring. It occurred to us that we had no money and that this institution probably dung tajes cards. We promised the kids we would go back I'm warm North Carolina and went looking for seals.

HVAMMSTANGI COTTAGES
The cottages were nice enough and the location was great for jumping off the next day, but we had our worst night's sleep here. The wind was so extreme that it shook the whole cabin. We had a double bunk bed and Josh felt a little claustrophobic. They were somehow completely full though.

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.