Svartifoss Waterfall

This morning we were greeted by falling snow.  I had no idea how that was going to impact the rest of our itinerary this day, but we knew that there would be days where we would just have to be flexible.  The first stop this morning was Svartifoss Waterfall.  It was the longest hike I had planned for the week, just because we haven't done a lot of winter hiking and there were too many variables for this trip.  I thought the kids could handle a 1.5km walk to this waterfall though.  

It was a beautiful hike up there.  Snow was gently falling and it was the warmest it's been all trip.  I even took off one of my layers of gloves.  As we walked we ended up with an advance party of Cambrie, Kelton, and me, and the more casual grouping of Jeremy, Kenzie, and Daxton.  

Cambrie, Kelton, and I were trekking and enjoying the views.  We saw Hundafoss waterfall along the way, and just some pretty winter creeks.  

At the top we waited for the rest of our crew to catch up.  They were enjoying their walk in their own way, nice and slowly.  

I was looking forward to this waterfall because it is surrounded by more basalt columns. It is a completely different vibe in winter than in the summer.  The falling snow and frozen icicles on the cliff made it difficult to see the columns.

Panoramic view of the surrounding cliffs and ice falls around the edges.

I love winter pictures like this.

The boys each received a camera for Christmas so they could take their own pictures on the trip.  Daxton took his job very seriously and now I have over 200 pictures to sort through!  I'm excited about it.  He didn't complain once about having to take his hands out of his gloves to manipulate the camera.  I was helping him with his zoom here so he could get his own picture of the waterfall.

Cheer up winter lover!

Trying to figure out the timing of each of our stops was incredibly difficult.  We only had a few reservations since I wanted to keep some flexibility in our schedule.  Even though we were truly enjoying this winter hike, we really needed to skedaddle to get to our next stop.  Jeremy found a fabulous way to encourage the kids who did not want to boogey, just drag them down the trail by their hoods!

 

Svartifoss Memories

Kelton: I was abandoned on the way up because I was faster than McKenzie, Daxton and dad, but slower than mom and Cambrie.

The waterfall looked kind of creepy.  It looked like a creepy squid or something.  It looked like an ice throne down there and I wanted to go down.  Cambrie wanted me to knock down a giant icicle.

Cambrie: I had actual icicles dripping from my hair. We’re talking inch long icicles dripping from my hair. Correction, I did not want Kelton to knock down a giant icicle, I wanted him to be impaled by a giant icicle.

McKenzie: Me and Daxton decided to join the dilly-dalliers club.  Which means that we didn’t want to hike then just enjoying the walk, not focusing on the destination.  We took a lot of pictures and were just existing going as slow as possible.  I liked being dragged.

Jeremy: Finding ways to motivate McKenzie and Daxton were hilarious. They broke down four or five times saying they couldn’t’ go another step. At least I found a fast way to take them home.

Daxton: I died on the way there.  McKenzie and I talked about a lot of stuff.  We were just walking.  We decided to make a joke when I pretended to be dead and then Mckenzie would run up to dad and yell, “Oh no! Daxton died!” I loved being dragged, it was fun.

Vik

These churches are scattered all over Iceland.  I think they're so picturesque.  We learned that during the Christmas season, they put lit crosses at each grave which I think is a really neat way to think about family during the season.

We went into Vik for some food and entertainment before calling it a night.  We had a little time to kill before dinner and as we drove around town we found a balloon jump at a playground.  Naturally we all scrambled out of the car to go play and play.  

Dinner was at Black Crust Pizza.  They've infused their crust with charcoal and it was some of the best pizza I've literally ever had in my life!

Jeremy and I made a quick stop at an Icewear shop to look for souvenirs, and while we were inside the security system activated and all of the security doors lowered locking us inside. The weirdest part of it all was that even with the alarms blaring and the doors locked, no one seemed the least bit concerned.  I had no idea how long we were going to be locked in, but it was so bizarre!  Luckily it was only for about five to ten minutes, but the kids didn't even notice!

Iceland is the land of fire and ice.  We've seen plenty of ice, now it's time to see some fire!  We purchased tickets to the lava show and while I was a little worried it was going to feel gimmicky, it was shockingly informational and entertaining.  I learned things about how lava reacts to ice and water that I had no idea about.  The lava was actual lava collected from the lava fields right outside the city.  When it entered the room it was hot!  We watched it flow, we watched it cool down.  The host pulled out a long pole and even played with it a bit to show us all the things it could do. It was so cool!

After we scavenged the floor for pieces of abandoned lava we went hunting for our next accommodation. This home was absolutely adorable.  There was a loft for the girls, bunk beds for the boys, and hot tub on the front porch.  After a nice, warm soak, all of us were wondering if it would be possible to just stop traveling for a day and relax and this place a little longer than planned.

That night before we went to bed we checked the forecast for the Northern Lights.  Seeing them was on of the biggest goals of this trip.  They are really hard to predict and don't last very long, so seeing them is as much luck as anything else.  Since there was a small chance we could see them this night, Jeremy stayed awake to stay on watch.  It didn't take long before he called us all out of bed because they were here.  They were a beautiful green glow on the horizon.  There were moments where you could see the spikes and darker ribbons of light.  It was generally a calmer showing, but when you've been dreaming of seeing them your whole life it is still magical. 

 

All of us completely bundled because it was cold out there!

Vik Memories

Cambrie: The pizza was really good.  I like basically the entire pizza.  I knew everyone was supposed to get three slices, but I ate an entire pizza. So that’s my bad guys.

Kelton: I loved playing king of the hill but Cambrie was kind of mean. She kept shoving us off. Sometimes we pushed her off, but then she always came back up.  

Daxton: I loved that balloon thing, but I kept falling off it.

Lava Show Memories

Jeremy: I was surprised how much I enjoyed the lava. It made me want to make my own lava show in Hawaii.

Kelton: The lava show was so cool. I wish we went to see another lava show.  It was awesome.  I want to play with lava.  They really should let under-age kids like us play with lava.

McKenzie: That was super cool.  It was a different experience than seeing melted glass.  It was legit lava so you could feel the heat it was awesome.  I took a little piece home with me.

Cambrie: Lava was cool.

 

Northern Lights Memories

Jeremy: When I heard there was a chance for northern lights I was staying up no matter what to find some. It was so cold. I scavenged through the outdoor barn to look for chairs to sit on and things I could keep warm with.

McKenzie: The first set of northern lights were not as good because you could barely see them.  Also, I was tired.  I thought the colors were really cool.  Also, that house was amazing.  It was such a quaint little house and I would definitely stay there again.

Kelton: The hot tub was great. The northern lights weren’t that bright so they weren’t that great in real life.

Daxton: It was really cool.  I liked when the sculpture broke.  It sounded like breaking glass.  Also, the lava was really bright.  I thought we would die because we were so close. You could feel the room heating up like our personal heater.

I liked how we slept in a bunkbed.  The coats made it look like there was an alien on the wall.

Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach

One of the stops I was most looking forward to was Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach and the basalt columns.  As soon as we arrived and say the fine grain sand covered with snow, we decided to rename the beach to Oreo Crumb Beach.  We've been around lava rock before, but somehow this just hit differently.  

Enjoying the sunset over the waves.

At the far end of the beach there is a giant cliff of basalt columns.  I love basalt columns.  I love the geometry of them.  I love how unnatural they look in nature.  I love that they were made from lava and it just blows my mind.

Fighting each other wish seaweed obviously.

One benefit to being this far north, is that the sunset lasts FOREVER!  You can always get a great sunset picture because you have about two hours to get it right.

Around the corner from the columns was a cool basalt cave.  There were icicles up top that the boys were convinced were going to fall down and stab them.  So of course they encouraged their brother to stand directly underneath them.

The biggest danger on this beach are actually the sneaker waves that come up surprisingly far and can sweep you into the ocean.  I was worried that some of the kids might not be paying attention so I didn't want them to get close to the water.  What did my teenage daughters promptly do?  Stand as close to the water as possible then run away in mockery of my concern. 

 Jeremy joined in the fun and they had a contest to see who could guess as accurately as possible how high up the waves would come on the beach.

Meanwhile Daxton and I were trying to get cool pictures of the very smooth black rocks.

Silly poses because too many pretty poses is just boring.

Reynisfjara Beach Memories

Kelton: I liked climbing the mountain of columns.  The sand and rocks were fun.  It was scary how Cambrie found the carcass. We liked running away from the waves.  We were playing a game where we had to guess where the waves would come up.  If the waves got too close then we had to run away.  It was fun.

McKenzie: I liked this one.  I liked the columns.  We look really fancy in that photo.  We tried to see who could get closest to the water, after mom told us not to go close to the water.

Cambrie: Mom was paranoid.  I thought it was funny.  So we played a game to see who could get closest to the water.  I found a dead animal. That was pretty sick.  I think it was a dog.  It was my beach bod.

Jeremy: I liked staring at the black sand and white snow.  That was really cool.

Daxton: I liked the time that mom and I had together when we couldn’t find the family.  I liked being on a really high column.

Annette: How are places like this even real?