The past few days have been whirlwind tour! Our base of operations is Akureyri, and we have made two day trips to Myvatn and one longer trip to Asbyrgi and Dettifoss. I've been letting my dad take over as photographer - he just got a new camera that is much nicer than my hand-sized fuschia little device, although it's served me well this summer - so as soon as we all sit down and relax for a bit, I'll get some pictures from him and post them here! You've probably seen a lot of similar pictures of Myvatn already.
Our activities thus far:
Day 1 - Myvatn
- Pick up Alex. Yay!
- Kalfastrond Lava Pillars
- Complain about the number of black flies. Alex laughs.
- Dimmuborgir
- Lunch at Daddi's Pizza
- Smelly pots
- Krafla
Day 2 - Asbyrgi/Dettifoss
What are these strange names, you may ask? Asbyrgi is a horseshoe shaped canyon that was carved out in one massive glacial flood, or made by Odin's eight-legged horse, depending on who you believe. It is the Grand Canyon of Iceland and very impressive! I will be sure do another post just on Asbyrgi.
Dettifoss is the biggest waterfall in Europe. I've been trying to get there all summer with no success, and so dragged my family there (they were all more than willing!). If you've seen the new movie Promotheus, I've heard that Dettifoss was filmed for that, although I haven't seen it myself. The drive to Dettifoss was on a dirt road through a desert (due to overgrazing, probably), which didn't seem like a bad road to me at all, but made my family rather nervous!
Day 3 - Myvatn
We had intended to make this a half day in Myvatn and then come back to Akureyri, but we took a bit longer in Myvatn than we'd thought we would. That's probably my fault...
- Visit the research station!
- Lunch at the Cowshed Cafe. Pet the cows. My grandparents and my dad know cows pretty well, and managed to have cows rolling on their sides to have their necks scratched! Even my little sister rolled a cow over!
- Alex makes the car stop to look at ducks. Only my dad was impressed that they were Barrow's Goldeneye ducks, the iconic bird of the Myvatn area.
- Walk the pseudocraters
- Alex makes the car stop to pet horses. Everyone was a little more impressed.
- Myvatn Nature Baths, another place I've wanted to go all summer and never made it! However, Iceland not been living up to its name, and gorgeous, warm days aren't the best for nature bathing. The blue mineral water was pretty cool though!
- Alex makes the car stop at the bird sanctuary. Once again, my family was not all that impressed, especially since all we were seeing is mallards (common as dirt in the Midwest), but then we spotted a loon on the way out! It was close to the car and posing beautifully. Mission: get my family excited about birds - accomplished.
Today we plan to hang out around Akureyri. Tomorrow,we head south!
Our activities thus far:
Day 1 - Myvatn
- Pick up Alex. Yay!
- Kalfastrond Lava Pillars
- Complain about the number of black flies. Alex laughs.
- Dimmuborgir
- Lunch at Daddi's Pizza
- Smelly pots
- Krafla
Day 2 - Asbyrgi/Dettifoss
What are these strange names, you may ask? Asbyrgi is a horseshoe shaped canyon that was carved out in one massive glacial flood, or made by Odin's eight-legged horse, depending on who you believe. It is the Grand Canyon of Iceland and very impressive! I will be sure do another post just on Asbyrgi.
Dettifoss is the biggest waterfall in Europe. I've been trying to get there all summer with no success, and so dragged my family there (they were all more than willing!). If you've seen the new movie Promotheus, I've heard that Dettifoss was filmed for that, although I haven't seen it myself. The drive to Dettifoss was on a dirt road through a desert (due to overgrazing, probably), which didn't seem like a bad road to me at all, but made my family rather nervous!
Day 3 - Myvatn
We had intended to make this a half day in Myvatn and then come back to Akureyri, but we took a bit longer in Myvatn than we'd thought we would. That's probably my fault...
- Visit the research station!
- Lunch at the Cowshed Cafe. Pet the cows. My grandparents and my dad know cows pretty well, and managed to have cows rolling on their sides to have their necks scratched! Even my little sister rolled a cow over!
- Alex makes the car stop to look at ducks. Only my dad was impressed that they were Barrow's Goldeneye ducks, the iconic bird of the Myvatn area.
- Walk the pseudocraters
- Alex makes the car stop to pet horses. Everyone was a little more impressed.
- Myvatn Nature Baths, another place I've wanted to go all summer and never made it! However, Iceland not been living up to its name, and gorgeous, warm days aren't the best for nature bathing. The blue mineral water was pretty cool though!
- Alex makes the car stop at the bird sanctuary. Once again, my family was not all that impressed, especially since all we were seeing is mallards (common as dirt in the Midwest), but then we spotted a loon on the way out! It was close to the car and posing beautifully. Mission: get my family excited about birds - accomplished.
Today we plan to hang out around Akureyri. Tomorrow,we head south!
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