Along the Southern Coast

(Nearing the top of Skogáfoss, Mike looks a bit cold. Good thing his North Face hat matches his North Face fleece, though.)

(This is the view from the top of the falls, looking down. Mike was thinking about jumping. I don't think he would have made it.)

(The two of us at the base of Skogáfoss. We'd stop by here one more time on the way back. It's just that good.)

(Mike hanging out high up on the basalt columns of Reynisfjara.)

(Look very closely to see me and Mike up on the formation. You may have to click on it to see us.)

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Mike Arrives - Aaaaaaooooo

(That's me at the Blue Lagoon - Iceland's #1 tourist attraction.)

(And there's Mike, an hour after getting off the plane from NYC. The geothermal lagoon is naturally heated to around 100 F.)

(We did the obligatory Golden Circle again, so this is Þingvellir. Check out the continental plate boundary behind us. We had much nicer weather this time around.)

(Mike sporting his trademark smile at the site.)

(This water is actually pretty deep. The clarity gets you every time.)

(Trying to steal the sword while doing my best troll impression. Neither were successful.)

(Lounging on a bench overlooking Gullfoss. Many of the nice attractions have scenic benches like this, so I helped myself.)

(That's me up on the cliff overlooking the top half of the falls.)

(The Hvita River (White) forms this wonderful set of falls after coming down from the glaciers.)

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Dettifoss, Surtshellir and Hraunfossar

(Isn't that the 150 foot high Dettifoss, the most powerful waterfall in Europe? Yep.)

(Hey, those rocks look like...uhh...Hey, that statue looks like...uhh...Hey, that sign looks like...Well, there's a reason. It's the Icelandic Phallological Museum.)

(Many of the fine specimens inside. Those mounted on the wall used to belong to whales. Clever pun, eh?)

(Another beautiful view along the side of the road.)

(Icelandic horses - smaller and supposedly nicer than traditional horses. I got honked at while taking this picture, so you'd better enjoy it. Who the hell honks at someone parked on the side of the road in Iceland? There's no one even using half the roads here.)

(One of the underground caves through which I climbed. It turns out that at the end, there are more tunnels with no exit, so I had to come all the way back through the darkness, wisely deciding not to bring a flashlight.)

(A ghostly figure warns me not to continue further into the next dark cave, as there is no hint of light at the end. Nice beard, Ghostie.)

(Hraunfossar - lava falls. This is a series of nearly a mile of falls seemingly with no source. They actually come from cracks in the lava rock a few feet below the surface and pour into the river here.)

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The Arctic Circle and Kopasker

(The seemingly endless stretch of barren wasteland between the fjords on the East and the North coast. This stretch is significant as my wheel locked up right when I tried to move over for an oncoming car, and I skid from one side to another for a little while before regaining control. Notice there is no shoulder on almost any of these roads, so you would not want to spin, flip and land up against some boulders.)

(Finally the mountains in the distance begin to get closer.)

(The NE tip of the island.)


(This water is actually the Arctic Ocean in a picturesque meeting of land and sea.)

(Just a few hundred feet from the Northernmost point in Iceland and another half mile or so to the Arctic Circle. Arctic = cold. It actually wasn't bad.)

(Iceland's national bird - the puffin (lundi). They say the meat is dark and oily, but I wouldn't know.)

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The East Fjords and Seyðisfjörður

(Reindeer. They're not endemic to Iceland, but some Fins brought them over to the East coast. That one is Steve and the other one is Ralph.)

(The gravel/main road along the East coast.)

(A nice view of the road along one of the many fjords, winding along the inlets.)

(The road went from greenery to this snow field on the top of the mountains on the way to the town of Seyðisfjörður.)

(There's Seyðisfjörður nestled at the bottom of some huge mountains.)

(More of the obligatory waterfalls. I think every town must have a quota.)

(Flowers and fjords.)

(One of the bodies of water nearby is said to hold the Icelandic version of the Loch Ness monster. But, as I said, that's not in this body of water.)

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Skaftafell, Svartifoss and Jökulsarlón

(After crossing one small creek on an aptly named 4 x 4 road, I bounced and scraped my way over rocks until I got to this next crossing. I didn't think my tiny rental and I stood a chance, so we sadly turned back before reaching the enticingly named Beautiful Falls.)

(Svartifoss - Black Falls. These black basalt columns are the ones after which the church in Reykjavík is modeled.)

(Traditional Icelandic turf houses at Skaftafell National Park. On the back side of this park is the largest glacier outside of the Poles.)

(After some wind and rain, things calmed down when I reached Jökulsarlón, a huge glacial lagoon filled with icebergs.)

(This lake actually didn't even exist until the 1930s and has been growing steadily ever since. Global warming, shmobal warming. Menh.)

(The same picture, but without that little piece of ice in the front. I like them both.)

(This entire lagoon was frozen for one of the recent James Bond movies in which the setting served as Siberia. It was also used in Lara Craft: Tomb Raider and some other old Bond movie.)

(Looking along the rocky banks of the lagoon, I saw 5 or 6 seals swimming around in the water, one of which stared me down for about 2 minutes. I think we know who won that battle.)

(More ice. Yes, I touched the water, and yes, it was cold. Makes sense.)

(The chunks of ice eventually make their way from the lagoon through a small channel into the ocean where some of them are washed up on to the black sand beach before eventually melting away...or the return of winter, whichever comes first.)

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