After spending the night in a former marina that is now converted into a guesthouse, we headed into the town of Seyðisfjörður for some coffee.
Our guesthouse (it came with free wifi and complimentary use of the yellow shopping cart).
The guesthouse's parking lot. The place was practically begging for a horror movie to be filmed there.
Just up the street from where we stayed.
Seyðisfjörður was so vivid and cute, and I particularly loved the rainbow walkway through town.
We left town around 1 pm and drove through the fjords, stopping to see some really cool waterfalls along the way.
We then stopped in Eskifjördur for some groceries, where I was once again happily surprised to find vegan yogurt, especially in a town with a population of 1,043 (yes, I googled that). Thank you Icelandic grocery stores for coming through with the non-dairy products!
After looking at some local arts and crafts in Eskifjördur, we headed to Reyðarfjörður and hit up the World War II museum. There, we watched a documentary all about British soldiers in Iceland, which was quite fascinating.
Then, we drove along the eastern coast and stumbled upon Petra's Stone Collection, which is the largest private collection of rocks in the world. It was pretty cool to see, but, it kind of felt like an episode of Hoarders since even the tour indicated that "the rocks began taking over her house in the 70s."
She also collected pens and key chains (unclear whether those took over her house). But I suppose it just goes to show that if you live in a small town with nothing to do, you can likely make a living through hoarding. I wonder if guests on the show have heard of coastal Iceland...it might be lucrative.
We then got to Djúpivogur and checked into our guest house, where I took advantage of the cute kitchen and made some dinner.
Before calling it a day, we checked out Eggin í Gleðivík, an artwork that consists of 34 eggs, one representing each species of local birds.
We woke up refreshed on our third day in Iceland, after falling asleep watching tv. We were switching between what I presume is the Icelandic weather channel (hosted by a woman who looked to be Elvira's long-lost sister), Olympic highlights, and the ever-so-believable film, The Change-Up (hey, it was the only channel in English).
We explored a bit of Akureyi, which was really cute. I would've liked to walk around downtown more, but alas, we had a full day ahead of us. So, instead, I snapped some pictures of this church (where I huffed and puffed my way up every flight of stairs to see it).
We then left town and set out to check out the first waterfall of the day. Some (very shaky) shots from the road:
On our way there, we accidentally missed our turn. This marks day three of getting lost. But, hey, the roads are really poorly marked.
We found it odd when the Ring Road (the country's only "highway," AKA a narrow two-laner with a maximum speed of 54 miles per hour) turned to dirt, then rocks, then narrowed to one lane. But, we figured, "hey, we're in Iceland, there's nobody here. Maybe when a Super Target is more populated than certain regions of the country, one doesn't need two lanes." So, we kept going, assuming we were going the right way.
However, we quickly looked on the map and realized we were completely wrong. In fact, we had gotten ourselves on an F road (i.e., the roads that require four-wheel drive and often necessitate crossing rivers), explained more here:
After a harrowing turn-around (in which we had to back the car up on a rocky, narrow, shoulder-less, one-lane road that looked like it would plunge us into certain injury), we were on our way again.
Our first stop was to a waterfall called Goðafoss. I couldn't believe how close we could actually get to the falls! And I continue to be amazed that more people haven't fallen in while taking selfies because we certainly saw some candidates who looked close to doing just that.
Little pools at Goðafoss.
Our next stop was Dettifoss. P.S. It was around this time, I started to get the sneaking suspicion that "foss" means "waterfall" in Icelandic.
And thanks to googling, I can now confirm my suspicion was correct.
Anyway, back to pictures of the fosses. Dettifoss was just unbelievable! Some shots:
I was totally amazed by these people not falling in.
I don't know if this dude was trying to shoot his album cover or just defy death, but he was getting his picture taken, in various poses, for at least 20 minutes while getting closer and closer to plummeting over the edge.
After cautiously making sure we didn't fall over the edge while taking our pictures pictures (on second thought, at least if I fell in, I'd probably get a tv credit out of the ordeal), we headed onward to check out some craters in Hverir.
Oh, you know, just scalding hot water erupting from the ground. NBD.
Hverir seriously made me feel like I was on another planet. The landscape was like nothing I had ever seen before.
After hanging at the craters for a while (and pretending I had just landed on Mars...until another family showed up right behind me to take pictures, ruining the illusion), the real adventure started.
We thought we might not have enough gas (we had a little under a half tank) to make it to our next destination, Egilsstadir, but figured we would stop along the way when the tank got low.
Two hours later, still no gas station. Our tank seemed to be dropping by the minute with no sign of gas or civilization in sight. We pulled off to a turn-around point that had a map. There was a family from Holland who happened to be pulled off at that same point. They let us use their map, which had little gas pump icons, indicating where the nearest stations were located. Sadly, the closest one looked pretty far away.
The Micra's gas gauge let us know how many kilometers we had left until we hit empty. It kept counting them down, and I felt like I was in some horror movie about a race against time.
44, 32, 27...it kept ticking.
Then, it happened: it hit zero.
It was at this point, I realized we were going to run out of gas. Not if, but when. So, we came up with a plan: we would hitchhike to the next town, get a can of gas, and hitchhike back. It is now that I should probably point out, this is not uncommon in Iceland. In fact, it is so safe in Iceland that people hitchhike all the time, including women on their own.
So, I wasn't too scared of having to hitchhike. I rationalized that we would make new friends and have a fun story to bring back home to the U.S. But, I was terrified of leaving the car on the road since there was no shoulder.
Keith white-knuckled the wheel, and we continued to drive on fumes and prayers.
And, then, like some sort of mirage, as we came down a hill, I saw a single gas pump. No station. No building. No attendant. Just one, tiny gas pump in the middle of absolute no where. I don't think I've ever screamed so hard in my life (because, unlike a mirage, this little petroleum miracle was real)!
After filling up, we made it to Egilsstadir, where we had an oh-so-fancy gas station meal at our new favorite place, N-1. I never knew I could spend over $14 on a beer and gas station sandwich, but Iceland has taught me it's possible.
We then meandered our way through the fjords (where we had to dodge several sheep sitting on the roads) and made it to our guesthouse in Seydisfjordur at around 10:45 pm.
When we opened the door, we were greeted by a sign saying the guesthouse closes at 9 pm. My heart sank. But, we opened the door anyway, and saw a non-too-happy front desk clerk, who informed us that had we been five minutes later, we would have been stuck without a place to stay since he was about to go home. Since Iceland is so small, and there aren't really hotels (there are, instead, mostly just guesthouses, which have 6-10 rooms and shared bathrooms), the accommodations don't usually contain 24-hour service. In fact, many times, the owner is the one who works there and only shows up around the time the guests say they will be there.
We profusely apologized, thanked him for staying open late to wait for us, and were given our key. It didn't take too long to fall asleep after today's adventure!
Our second day in Iceland started with a trip to the cutest little coffee shop in Hvammstangi (say the name of that town three times fast). It was drizzling outside, which made the hot beverages even more perfect.
After getting warm and cozy for a bit, we decided to head up to Hvitserkur. It was here that I learned why having four-wheel drive (which, of course, we didn't have) is so crucial. The roads quickly turned to dirt, then to rock, then to mud. It was quite the adventure! But, I absolutely loved looking at the landscape. My iPhone pictures can't really do it justice, but here's a few attempts:
Once we arrived in Hvitserkur, we set out to look at one of the landmarks. I'm not sure what to call it other than "giant rock," so I suppose I'll go with that. Keith and I weren't quite brave enough to scale the terrain in order to get really close to it (rain + slippery rocks + me being clumsy = not a good combination), but we did snap these shots (which were definitely worth the walk in the rain).
The giant rock truly was beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that we attempted to persuade the locals to go see it.
After checking out the giant rock, we continued to make our way to Akureyi, but saw some sites along the way:
It was somewhere along our drive to Akureyi that we fell in love with Iceland's N-1 gas stations. Not only do they have free wi-fi (important for my ever-so-crucial tweets. I mean, really, how does anyone live without those?), but they also have salad bars and beer. What more could one want in a gas station? Did I mention they also have these little tokens of class? I bought 13.
We finally made it to Akureyi in the evening, where I promptly made myself one of my favorite snacks:
Since it's an island and much has to be imported, Iceland is mega-expensive, especially going out to dinner. Thankfully, most of the places where we stayed had kitchens. So, we often made food, which gave us an opportunity to get to chat with other tourists (and, as I frequently did, casually stare at what they were eating to get meal ideas). In Akureyi, we talked to several Italian guys. They were headed counterclockwise on the Ring Road, so they offered us many recommendations for what to see in the coming days. Given that Akureyi is one of Iceland's most populated cities (with a whopping 17,000 people), I think we might start tomorrow by checking out the city.
As a graduation present to myself, I decided to take a little trip to Iceland. Ever since going there in 2014 (and promptly falling in love with the place), I vowed to return. This time, I decided I wanted to rent a car and drive the perimeter of the entire country (known as Ring Road). So, the day before my birthday, that's what I set out to do!
On August 13th, I woke up at 4 am to make my 7:10 am flight to Nashville. My itinerary had me going from Detroit to Nashville to Boston to Reykjavik (when it comes to using frequent flier miles/traveling for free, I suppose beggars can't be choosers).
I met up with my good buddy (and fellow comic) Keith Lenart in Boston.
And I also ran into this guy.
Perhaps more awesome than hearing my favorite accents (Boston), I got a free soup (normally sold at the low, low airport price of $5.20) when I bought a salad. The woman who served me called me "honey," and remarked "no chahge" as she handed me my soup. Score.
Keith and I scored again when we got an exit row with so much room that I could pretty much lie down in my seat.
Wow Airways is like the Spirit Airlines of Iceland, so there were no free drinks (not even water). So instead, I slapped on my sleep mask and snoozed nearly the entire flight.
The flight to Iceland was quick (not even five hours) as was our trip through customs.
We collected our bags, picked up our rental car, and found our way to Reykjavik.
But, first I perused the airport's food court. I was pleased to find this:
Since it was 7 am on a Sunday, nothing was open. So, we pulled over in a mall parking lot and caught up on some sleep. Who knew that a Nissan Micra (which was barely big enough to fit us and our luggage) could make for such comfortable sleeping?
3 hour nap = happy birthday to me!
After our nap, we stopped at the grocery store (where I found vegan yogurt, a pleasant surprise), and we set out for our first destination: Staðarflöt.
As we soon discovered, the street signs in Iceland are teeny tiny. Not only are they printed in seemingly 12-point font, but they are quite low to the ground as well.
I had no idea one could get lost in a country with a population of less than 400,000, but that's exactly what we did. In fact, we got so lost, and the area was so desolate that we had to drive half an hour just to ask for directions. Sadly, those directions ended up being incorrect, and we had to drive another half an hour to ask for directions again.
Finally, we reached our destination, the North Star Hotel. The hotel was really isolated (as is most of Iceland), but the lobby was pretty and the beds were comfortable. So comfortable, in fact, that Keith and I slept another 12 hours. I suppose we needed it, given our nearly 30 hours of straight travel the previous day.
I didn't formally celebrate my birthday, but exploring new places was the perfect way to mark another trip around the earth!
Today, I decided to run my first race in three years. When I went back to law school, life got a bit overwhelming, and unfortunately, running was one of the first things to go (along with free time and hobbies) when I had to make more time for my studies.
Thus, I am quite out of shape.
I've been slowly plugging away at Couch-to-5K (the program that got me into running in the first place), but I kind of half-way did it.
I don't even think I've run an entire mile in three years. Oy.
So, rather than setting goals, I decided to make the only goal just to have fun. Considering this was the Super Hero 5K, and I got to run in a Superman costume, how could it not be fun?
I headed to Gallop Park in Ann Arbor, where I met up with my friend, Todd. This boy comes prepared:
Ready to fight crime. And by fight crime, I mean pant my way through attempting the race.
The course was absolutely beautiful. Gallop Park is one of my favorite parks since it's filled with many scenic trails and pretty lakes. Before law school, I remember spending countless days there, running, walking, and having picnics. So, it was great to get back! Plus, checking out all of the other super hero costumes was so fun.
Wishing my super power was the ability to create more time for naps!
After the race, I immediately piled my sweaty self into my car, drove to Milwaukee, and then performed at Bonkerz Comedy Club. You'll be happy to know that I did take a shower, too.
