We slept in today. No one set alarms. I managed to catch 8 hours of sleep and felt so much better.
In the lazy morning I managed to snap some photos of the landscape outside the house. Wild horses, beautiful fields, etc. The weather was still cloudy and foggy in places (have I mentioned that we haven't seen the sun since Sunday?), but it was still beautiful.
After a leisurely breakfast and hanging out at the house time, we hopped in the cars and circumnavigated Snæfellsjökull National Park in a clockwise pattern. From the house, we first stopped at Arnarstapi, a small seaside community seated atop a huge and dramatic cliff. It was windy and chilly, so we fortified at a small cafe with watery coffee, tasteless sandwiches, and vegan gummies.
Next, we stopped at Hellnar, just a little further along the south coast. No one lives here, but there were some dramatic rocks jutting out of the sea. Apparently a friendly Arctic Fox lives in the area and loves people, but we didn't see him! Guess it was too cold even for him,
Back in the car for another short drive. We were aiming for a lighthouse, but the road got too bad and we ended up stopping at a secluded beach. By this point, the snow was starting to fall, so we climbed rocks, found a cave to take shelter in, and generally tried to keep warm.
Next on our journey was the small town of Hellissandur, where we first stopped at the visitor center for the National Park. H immediately found a book on Arctic Foxes (her favorite), but the clerk, susipicious of a 10-year-old with an adult book, scolded her and called her boss over to refer H to the kids books. H got self-concious and had to be mollified, and we departed quickly. Ish.
Hellissandur is also the street art capital of Iceland. We had hoped to occupy the kids with a small trampoline park while we sought out street art, but the trampoline park was closed. So, the kids were stuck in the car while we sought out lots of cool art on the sides of buildings. The snow had let up, but the wind persisted.
After that, we kept going clockwise around the peninsula to Ingjalshóll Church, the oldest concrete church in the world. Legend has it that Christopher Columbus visited this church (long before it was a concrete building, back when it was a monastery) to do research on how to travel to the new world.
Rif was the next town on our trip. It's a working class fishing town, though they have a venue called the Freezer that is a cinema/theatre/community arts place. Reminded us of Opera House Arts in Stonington.
We couldn't let a day go by without a waterfall, so we parked near Svöðufoss and walked the .5 mile grated trail to the falls. By this point the snow was back in full horizontal force, so the kids were all grumpy. Said H: 'Why are you doing this to me?' Answer: because of waterfalls like this:
We ended our exploration in Ólafsvík, a small seaside town on the north shore of the peninusula. We made a quick stop for groceries and then had a lovely dinner at Sker Restaurant, where we had a delicious meal of cod and mashed potatoes. The kid had burgers and pizza :)
After Ólafsvík, we cut down the center of the peninsula and back to the house. As we drove south, we went up onto (or near) the glacier, where the ground was snowy and matched the grey of the sky. After crossing the crest, our descent dropped us into this valley that was so beautiful we stopped to photograph.
As we pulled back into our AirBNB, the skies at the horizon started to clear, and we got to see some mountains in the distance.
Back at the house, the adults rotated through sauna and hot tub as we put the kids to sleep. Only one more full day together before we split up!
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