We Can't Let This End Without A Little More Drama

We Can't Finish Up Yet!

At Least One More Day of Adventure!

Did You Know Leif Ericson was from Iceland?
He is credited with being the first explorer to set foot on North America.

   
     A near death experience in Iceland?  Not really, but it definitely got our attention. 

    A Story:  So we signed up for an excursion to see the sights of Iceland, with our time being short.  This excursion was headed into the interior of the island/country, which has some noteworthy geological highlights. 
    To say the weather was marginal is a severe understatement.  It was snowing and cold and windy and generally really ugly.   We had to catch a bus and did so willingly, at least at the beginning.

    We made our way to first stop, a "unique food experience" which turned out to be a highly productive greenhouse in the midst of the bleak Iceland landscape.  It was pretty interesting, they use heat from underground thermal sources, a recurring theme here in Iceland.  They grow prodigious amounts of tomatoes.  Loved it there.

    There some very sophisticated systems to enable growth all year round. 

    The whole structure was fairly extensive and covered several acres.

 

    Then things started to get gnarly.  

    Next we went to the geysers and boiling hot springs which were quite a ways off.  It was seriously cold.   

     
    We walked out to the geyser and watched it erupt right on schedule, a bit like old faithful in the Yellowstone.  We had walked a long ways.  There were a lot of people there.  
     Then it began to snow heavily with a bunch of hail.  It was really coming down.  We got soaking wet.  Everybody quickly abandoned their quest to be impressed by the thermal hot springs and high tailed it out of there.  It was super windy and it the conditions were absolutely miserable. 
     Hail was coming down sideways and stinging our face as we fought our way back to the visitors center.  I don't know how these Icelanders can do this. It was freezing, and we were totally drenched. I mean, it was bad. 

    
     So we had lunch at the visitor center.  I had some fish, hey ... Icelandic Cod ... We began to thaw out and gained some hope for the rest of the day.

     Then we eventually left and went to see some very dramatic water falls, like world class Niagara stuff.  It was called Gullfoss.  
     We had to walk a long ways.  Fiona was rather skeptical at this point and said, "we're gonna walk all the way out there and it's gonna start snowing and blowing and be miserable".  
     She turned out to be right.   In fact, I don't know if you can see in the picture below, but half the waterfall was frozen. 

     But I thought, "hey man, we're only in Iceland for a very short time and we gotta do this, c'mon".  So we set out and it was freakin' cold beyond belief.  And guess what happens?

     We get out there to the edge of this Abyss and the waterfalls are spectacular and we get some pictures and ... it starts to snow really hard again, with serious wind.  
     So we're still pretty wet from the previous episode last time and it is really coming down, with frozen snow/hail pellets that feel like tiny painful darts shot unceasingly from the devil himself, and Fiona throws up her hands and declares "I'm going back to the bus!  This is insane!"  and stomps off in a hurry.  
     
     However, I am committed to get a couple more pictures of this one-of-a-kind scenery, but I am getting hammered with cold wet.

***** full disclosure - I have been suspected of hyperbole on occasion, not without some possible merit to the accusation - but I did research the conditions with a wind chill calculator to support my facts, and my reseach is accurate *****

     With the blowing wind chill it was 15 degrees F ( -10 C).
     After forty-five minutes of this stuff, I had a legitimate fear that frostbite was beginning to set in.  I couldn't feel my fingers, and my pathetic wet, thin, inadequate gloves offered no protection.  It was unbearably cold.  
    I had to bail.  

    My teeth were chattering and I was shaking uncontrollably as I struggled my way back to safety.  I like to think I'm a pretty hardy guy, but this was beyond my capacity.  I was amazed anybody stayed out there in these conditions.  When you include the wet and the wind, it was probably the coldest I have ever been.  

    So I stumbled my way back into the gift shop and once inside I crumbled to the ground mumbling "thank you Jesus ..." for my survival (okay, maybe that's hyperbole, but not by much!).

    I applied the correct first aid, and since they didn't have any brandy, I got a hot chocolate.  I hugged the cup and sat there dripping wet, with the thousand yard stare, like someone who has just faced death ... and lived to tell about it.  

Only we were not done yet ...

    We had another stop.  By this time, I didn't care if we were stopping at Buckingham Palace, I was done ... come to think of it, we were just there a few days ago! ...  but you just have to press on.
     So we went to this historic place with cool features and it's where the two continental plates rub together and form Iceland and volcanoes and yadda, yadda, blah, blah and the person explaining it rambled on forever.  
     But I have to admit it was pretty cool, and the weather had let up a little bit. Either that, or we had gotten beyond the pain barrier. 
     Anyway, it was interesting and historic.  In fact, it was maybe my favorite part of the day ...

     Evidently, this is an ancient place where the Vikings and predecessors of the current Icelanders met to hold parliament and other meetings.  Dude!  Maybe Leif Ericson himself was there!
     And it is also the actual fissure where the two tectonic plates meet - from the North Atlantic and Euro-Asian continents - resulting in all the volcanoes and thermal activity and earthquakes and other commotion.  We walked right down the seam of the fault line, as shown in the picture below.  This fault line is still moving to this day, about a foot a year.  Personally I'm glad there were no earthquakes that day ...

    All in all, the day contained a whole lot more than we bargained for today.  But pretty exciting.  
     
     So we carry on with our journey, - oh well, just another day of travel ... not!