We arrived back in Reykjavik on October 28 and spent our first night back in the campground where our whole adventure started. We visited the flea market in Kolaportid and found two really interesting tables; one that had a lot of vintage Icelandic post cards and photos, and one with a lot of great bones and whale-tooth carvings. We spent the rest of the day doing a $14 load of laundry and re-packing everything and cleaning out the car.

The next morning we picked up our friend Grace at the airport, returned our rental car and picked up a new one and then headed back South on Route 1 to take her to some of our favorite spots before the music festival. We stopped in Hveragerdi to get Grace her first Icelandic hot dog then drove to Gljufrabui and Seljalandsfoss waterfalls. We hiked into the canyon to see the falls again then drove another 30 minutes to Skogafoss and then took a quick hike down the valley path to Kvernufoss. We stopped at the fish and chips truck for dinner and then made our way all the way across the Southern coast to Hofn to camp for the night. On the way we stopped again at the black sand beach outside of Vik, and this time the tide was low so we were able to see so many more of basalt columns as well as access the much bigger cave further down the shoreline.

The next day we took Grace out to Flaajokull glacier along the stone road in front, since that was our favorite of all the glaciers we had visited, then stopped at Jokulsarlon to see the glacier lagoon and the beach. It looked completely different than when we had been there before...there were almost no small pieces of ice and all the huge chunks were crowded together at the mouth of the river. The beach had none of the huge icebergs that we had climbed on the first time, and not even that many small pieces...I preferred how it looked the first time we got to visit it, but it was nice to see how it changes so we could better appreciate it.

We spent that night at Selfoss and then returned to Reykjavik the next day to pick up our wristbands for the Airwaves festival and scope out some of the venues. We visited the Iceland Phallological museum, where they house a collection of over two hundred penises from all the land and sea mammals found in Iceland (yes, even human) and the sperm whale penis was taller than Steve. We checked into our Air BnB that afternoon, and it was really nice to be indoors and sleep in a real bed after spending a month in a tent. It was a nice big apartment and only a 10 minute drive from downtown. The best part is $86 a night is way cheaper than any hostel bed in town, and infinitely cheaper than the cheapest hotel.

The Iceland Airwaves Festival started on November 1st and went through the 5th, and over those 5 days we saw over 30 different bands perform and numerous venues large and small all around the city. There were big famous names sharing the stage with little local bands, and we discovered a lot of great new music. Some bands we planned to see ahead of time, but many of them we discovered as we wandered around the city. In between shows we did some shopping and found some unique local places for lunch where we sampled whale steak, ate some fresh seafood and sampled a popular local fish stew. The final day of the festival we woke up to an insane storm with 50mph wind gusts that blew us sideways across the rain-slicked plaza in front of the Harpa center and we only saw a few shows before we went home to get dry. The final headline concert of the festival was Mumford and Sons, and they put on a fantastic live show.

​On the 6th we checked out of the Air BnB and met our guide Ragnar at noon for our Golden Circle tour before spending the night in the Bubble Hotel, our biggest splurge of the trip. Even though we had already been to most of the places he took us we appreciated getting to see them again, and we were finally able to ask all the questions we'd been wondering about the whole time. Our first stop was Thingvellir National Park where we had gone to snorkel, and he took us to a section of the park we hadn't been to and walked a path in between the tectonic plates (much warmer than swimming), in the same area they used to film the road to the Eyrie in Game of Thrones. We saw where Iceland's first Parlaiment met in 930 AD  and the hill where they used to read the laws to the people. Funnily enough, Iceland didn't impose the death penalty on people until after they adopted Christianity...apparently Vikings are more humane as pagans than Christians. 

We stopped at Geysir and stayed for several eruptions, and got a much bigger one on film than last time. Then we went to Gullfoss and I really appreciated getting to see it again because it looked so drastically different. It had done quite a bit of snowing by then, and the temperature had dropped considerably so it looked like a completely different place. The mist form the falls had frozen on the rocks and formed long, jagged icicle teeth framing both the upper and lower falls. The pathway to the edge of the falls was closed so it was possible to get some really great photos without hoards of people in them. We ate dinner around 5 at a local restaurant then went to the secret lagoon after dark. It was a nice hot spring that reminded me a lot of Orvis near Telluride Colorado...definitely a man-made pool but with a very natural vibe. They had poop noodles to use so we grabbed a few and had a relaxing float. The sky was clear when we arrived but then a big bank of clouds rolled in and dumped big fat snowflakes for about ten minutes before leaving as fast as it came. 

​When we got to the bubbles Ragnar showed us the grounds before leaving. There were 8 bubbles scattered throughout a small stand of trees  that passes for an Icelandic forest, and a small common bathroom/kitchen hut on a farmers land. They are basically clear plastic igloos on a wooden platform with a queen bed inside and two small lamps. There was a power strip and an electric blanket for extra warmth, but since they were inflated with a constant stream of warm air the temperature was fairly pleasant inside. There were two doors, an outer and an inner and you can only open one at a time or you'll let all the air out and the whole thing will deflate. We chose the one with the most trees surrounding it, and the lamps give off a soft yellow glow that makes the bubbles glow golden between the trees. With the lights off the bubble is crystal clear and we had a great view of the trees all around thanks to the almost full moon, and the clouds had cleared out so we slept under an infinity of stars. It felt like the bubble wasnt even there and we were sleeping in a big comfy bed in the middle of the woods. It was a great experience, and worth all the expense. In the morning Ragnar picked us up early and took us for breakfast at another local restaurant then dropped us back off at the campground. We spent the day packing our bikes back into the boxes and sorting out all of our luggage.

November 8 was our last night in Iceland and we were treated to one more northern lights spectacular before bed. We woke in the morning to our tent covered in frost with sleet and heavy winds, a perfect day to think about heading for home. For our last meal in Iceland on the day of our departure we found a local place serving puffin, one of the only Icelandic foods we hadn't run across on our journey. It snowed to see us off on our way to the airport, and we departed the country as the sun was setting.

When we planned this trip we had expected to be biking the majority of the time, and perhaps rent a car for the last two weeks. With our change of plans and spending much more time in a vehicle than we anticipated we ended up having a lot of extra free time on our hands. Iceland is not that big of a country after all, and even with all of our side routes and exploration we still found ourselves with a full week of extra time before we needed to be in Reykjavik for the Iceland Airwaves music festival, so we decided to spend it in a beautiful little campsite outside of Borgarnes that we first found when we were traveling on our bikes. The campground is closed so there was no fee, which helped us save since our budget tightened up a lot when we had to rent the car.

We left Selfoss around noon and drive 18k to Hveragerthi to hike along they Reykjadalur valley to the hot water river. It was about an hour long hike with some fairly steep sections, although the trail was wide and smooth the whole way. We passed a lot of steaming vents and boiling hot pools taht are well over 100 degrees celcius before we came to the river. There was a boardwalk along a stretch of the river to keep you out of the mud, and little rock dams have been build every 25-50 feet along the shallow river to make sections deep enough to submerge in if you lay down. The first spot we chose was warm, but not hot and was pleasant enough while we were in the water but made getting out into the cold air tough. We finally gathered up the courage to brave the cold air and moved a few hundred yards up stream and the water there was so hot that it was more comfortable to sit half-in and half-out. We soaked an hour or so then hiked back to the car as the sky was beginning to turn pink and purple with the sunset. 

​Our first night in Borgarnes we set up our tent right on the water and we were treated to another spectacular show by the northern lights. We stayed up late with our camera and got some great shots of the lights reflected on the water behind our tent. We could tell fall was rapidly coming to and end, as the temperatures had been dropping steadily for the last few days and the moisture on our tent from the rain in Selfoss froze almost immediately as we set it up.

We spent a lot of time that week relaxing in our tent, visiting the local swimming pool, cooking luxurious meals overlooking the water and watching the northern lights dance almost every night. It seems like the aurora is making up for a whole months worth of shows that we missed due to the clouds. We both bought some local supplies and started learning new crafts...Steve is learning to knit and I took up felting with wool rovings from the shaggy Icelandic sheep. 

One day we drove to Hraunfossar waterfall, which is actually long section of cliff where countless springs of water emerge from the edge of the lava field Hallmundarhraun and flow into the river Hvita. Surface water and glacier melt water filter down into the lava field and come out along a 1km section above the river. In some spots many springs come out close together and run down the rocks creating a braided-waterfall effect. Its not very tall, but its visually very interesting. Just up the river we visited Barnafoss where the river carved out a lot of natural bridges, holes and arches. On the way back to Borgarnes we stopped at Stedji, a farm and brewery that has a tasting room. We got a 5 beer sampler and then three bottles to share. Its the first brewery we've found in Iceland that does more than just a standard pale, IPA, porter etc. Almost all their beers had some sort of special element like ginger, cinnamon, seaweed or our favorite...whale testicle smoked over sheep dung. WE didn't try any beers there that we didn't like. For dinner we went to the restaurant at the settlement center in Borgarnes and ordered a horse fillet, which tasted like a really tender steak and was served medium-rare in some sort of amazing sauce. Checked one more off our list of new things to eat.

​The Settlement Center in Borgarnes is a museum with two exhibits, one about the first people to discover and settle in Iceland and one dedicated to the Saga of Egill who lived at the farm Borg, which is what the town is named for. It was nice to learn a bit more history about Iceland since we didn't know much about it at all. It was settled by Vikings, and the coolest thing is they don't just know who and when, they know exactly where people landed, lived, stored their boats...so much detail. In America we only know that history of a place starting with colonization or white expansion, but nothing about the original settlers or inhabitants. Egils saga was a bit more of a fairy-tale type story with a lot of embellishments (pretty sure his grandfather wasn't actually a werewolf...) but it was rooted in fact and the characters depicted were really the first settlers in that area.

We made the campground in Selfoss our home base for the next few days while we spent some time exploring the Golden Circle, a 300k loop from Reykjavik into the Southern uplands and back. Its one of the most popular tourist routes in Iceland as it can be done in one day and there's a little bit of everything from waterfalls to geothermal activity. We saved it for later in our trip hoping to avoid some of the worst of the crowds. On our first day we slept in until almost noon and then set out for a 40 minute drive to check out Gullfoss and Geysir.

Gullfoss is a waterfall on the Hvita river and it was beautiful but quite busy, and it made me appreciate our opportunities to see other equally impressive waterfalls in more remote locations in Iceland. Gullfoss has an upper section of tiered rocks that the river cascaeds down before turning a sharp corner and plunging 105 feet to the valley below.

A short distance down the road is Geysir, a geothermal area with several vents, hot pools and geysers. The only on actively spouting is Strokkur, and it erupts fairly regularly every 6-8 minutes so we watch a few eruptions before taking a walk around. We didn't do too much exploring at either place because we had accommodations booked for later in our trip at he bubble hotel, and it included a tour of the golden circle with a guide. We finished the day at Hveragerdi to visit the Olverk brewery for dinner. Its unique in that its a geothermal powered brewery, although that doesn't actually do anything unique to the beer. I had a pint of their blueberry wit, and it was pleasant although not something i would pay $14 for a second time. All of the beer here in Iceland is incredibly expensive, so we've been pretty sober on this trip. We shared a pizza for dinner and then went to Isbud Huppu, an ice cream shop in Selfoss for dessert.

On October 19 we booked an excursion to go Snorkeling in the Sifra fissure, between two tectonic plates. On this trip we've opted not to do many paid activities since Iceland is a fairly expensive place to be and we wanted to be sure we saved enough money to do the few things that we can't do anywhere else. We can walk on glaciers any time we want in Alaska, but this is the only place in the world you can swim between tectonic plates.

We met our guide Carlos at Thingvellir National Park information center and followed him out to the dive site. There were only four other people in the group and everyone was around our age. We got geared up with a warm onesie, a dry-suit, gloves and a hood, then carried our fins and masks three minutes down the trail to the beginning of the fissure. We entered the 34 degree water two at a time down a set of wide stairs and had to show we could roll over onto our backs before we got started. The dry suits were bouyant and there is a current flowing through the fissure so we didn't need to do much swimming, we just floated through the crystal clear water and enjoyed the view. The fissure is quite narrow in parts and ranges from a few feet deep to over 100. I could even see a few caves and crevices further down that you'd definitely need scuba gear and a small body to squeeze into and explore. We explored the four main sections; the big crack, Silfra hall, the cathedral and Silfra lagoon and then had some time to swim around on our own. We were in the water about 40 minutes but the only part of me that really felt the cold was my hands. 

The Silfra fissure is formed where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet. The water is melted glacier water from the Langjokull glacier and it filters through the underground lava rocks for about 30 years before it emerges crystal clear into the crack. The water doesn't look all that special from above, but once inside you're surrounded by fabulous shades of bright blue and you could almost imagine it was tropical if it wasn't so cold...

The day after our snorkel adventure it was raining lightly as we set out from Selfoss to go waterfall hunting. Steven did some research and found three waterfalls in the area that you can hike behind, so we put on our raincoats and planned to get wet. The first waterfall we explored was Gljufrabui, its 40 meters tall but the only way to see the whole thing is to hike up the stream coming out of the narrow fissure in the cliff face. 50 feet upstream the space opens into a large chamber with a huge boulder at the center, and the waterfall flows from the top of the cliff into a shallow pool behind the boulder. It spreads out to cover the entire back wall and the room is filled with the sound and the spray. We were both thoroughly soaked when we left, but it was totally worth it to visit such a magical little spot.

From Glufrabui we walked half a kilometer along the cliff band and past several smaller waterfalls to Seljalandsfoss which is larger and taller (65 meters) but a major tourist stop. There was a trail behind the waterfall so you can see it from all angles so we hiked up the stairs on one side and through the mist to the relatively dry overhang behind the falls and then down the stairs on the other side. 

Our last waterfall of the day was Kvernufoss, right next to Skogafoss although we didn't know it when we were there the last time. WE drove past the museum and then parked next to a warehouse. We had to climb a ladder over a fence and into some pastureland, but it was easy to find the 1/2 mile trail down the canyon to the falls. The hike took us along the edge of the river surrounded by high rock walls covered in impossibly green moss. We couldn't see the falls until we were almost there and rounded the bend past a large boulder. This was our favorite waterfall of the day because it was so secluded it felt like our own secret spot, and the view from behind the narrow waterfall looking back down the narrow valley was amazing. 

Our plan was to leave Selfoss the next day and head back North of Reykjavik to better explore the area up there that we had biked through so quickly the first time.

Hofn is a small waterfront town that sits right on the Southeast corner of Iceland, and it was a great place to re-group and make a plan for exploring some of the the more well-known and popular tourist destinations along the South Coast.  From the waterfront in town we could see the tongues of four glaciers reaching down to the water, and we were looking forward to spending some time exploring all that ice. The visitor center in town has a nice display about the local birds and a really interesting movie about the eruption of the Katla volcano. We treated ourselves to lunch at Humar Hofnin and shared a plate of duck and langoustine (Norway lobsters). A large percentage of the Langoustine that are caught in Iceland come from Hofn so we figured it would be a good place to try it, and we were not disappointed. Our second evening in Hofn we were treated to our first show from the northern lights on this trip. We had been in the country nearly a month at this point, but this was the first night that the skies were clear and the kP index was high. There was a strong green river of light running straight through the sky that waved and danced for 2-3 minutes before the lights faded a bit and spread out across the sky. They got pretty faint for a while and then came back in full force as a curtain of light, twisting and swirling right above us in greens and reds.

​We spent two nights in Hofn before striking out West on the Ring Road along the South Coast of Iceland. On October twelfth we struck out for the Jokulsarlon iceberg lagoon, but it took nearly all day to make the hour-long trip because we couldn't resist taking several side trips down gravel roads to visit all of the glaciers creeping down the mountains from the Vatnajokull icefield.

Our first side trip took us to the Hoffellsjokul glacier where we hiked a short distance to an overlook with a view of the glacier spreading out into the valley from its narrow mountain pass, and a grey lagoon filled with chunks of ice at its foot. Our next detour took us down another gravel road for a view of a much larger glacier. The road narrowed to one land after about 8k and crossed a man-made land bridge of gravel about 15 feet tall out in front of the glacier. The further down the road we went the more ice came into view, and when we stopped for some photos we noticed two reindeer to the right that ran along the edge of a pool before disappearing from sight. 

We had hoped to find a campground reasonably close, but ended up having to drive another 3 hours to Vik before we came upon another campground. In the end we had to pay $138 for two beds in a hostel because a storm blew in and the only campground was completely flooded...a drastic difference from the morning when the weather was perfectly clear.

​The storm had mostly blown itself out by next morning, and we took advantage of access to a shower before we checked out. We decided to explore Vik a bit before heading back East to see the stuff we had missed driving in the dark the night before. We started out the day looking for the wreck of the US Navy DC-3 super bus plane on Solheimasandur beach. We found the parking area full of cars and joined a steady stream of people hiking out to the beach. It was about two miles out through a desolate and otherworldly landscape of black sand and lava rocks. The plane crashed on the beach on November 21, 1973 and everyone survived, but it must have been a strange and lonely place for the crew to find themselves stranded in. The tail section and wings are all missing, and the inside is completely gutted, so its just the shell of the fuselage with the cockpit destroyed. There were a lot of people at the plane, but we walked 200 yards to the shore and we were all alone. I am constantly impressed by the violence and power of the massive waves on Iceland's South coast. They pound the shore with a fury that would pulverize even the strongest swimmer.

We walked back to the car and drive back East towards Vik, stopping outside of town at Reynisfjara beach. The waves were even more ferocious here, and there were signs warning of dangerous "sneaker waves"that could be much larger than the other waves and catch people off guard. Several tourists have been killed by them, but it didn't seem to stop the other tourist from getting ridiculously close to the water to get that perfect selfie. At one end of the beach there was a large "cave" (more of a big indentation) of basalt columns and a long cliff of the hexagonal columns stretching parallel to the ocean. The tide was high so we couldn't walk along the cliff, but we had a good view of Reynisdrangar, the two tall rock formations rising out of the sea that are supposedly trolls turned to stone.

The next morning we pack up our tent and left Hofn for good, with one more stop at Jokulsarlon on our way West to see what we had missed driving in the dark. We took a longer walk around the lagoon for our last visit there. Its amazing how crowded it is near the parking area, but no one bothers to walk ten minutes down the shore so we had it all to ourselves. After seeing the crowds at these popular destinations in the "off season" I would never recommend visiting Iceland at the height of the tourist season. 

About halfway between Jokulsarlon and Vik starts a huge lava field that extends as far as you can see. The jagged sharp rocks are covered in an incredibly soft-looking green moss that smooths and rounds the edges into indistinct lumps. It looks like a magical other world, and I can completely understand how legends of hidden people can persist here. We decided to stay in Vik that night since the campground had dried out significantly. We pitched our tent high on a hill at he base of some tall cliffs with a view of the ocean and reynisdrangar in the distance and had a good nights sleep listening to the waves crashing on the shore and protected from the worst of the ever-present wind. 

We started off the next day with a stop at Skogafoss waterfall, which is fed by the Eyjafjallajokull and Myrdalsjokull glaciers. The main falls is 15 meters wide and 62 meters high and quite impressive, but there are over 20 waterfalls on the Skoga river so we hiked upriver (and uphill) a ways to see more. As with most places on the South coast the waterfall was very crowded, but once we started walking upriver we left the crowds behind. On the way back to the ring road we stopped at a little food truck in someones front yard and shared a delicious order of fish and chips, then we went in search of the oldest swimming pool in Iceland. We took road 242 out towards Raufarfell and hiked about 15 minutes down the valley from the end of the road. Right next to the river and hidden around a bend in the trail is Seljavallalaug, built in 1923. Three concrete walls and the side of a cliff make up the 25x10 meter pool and the water comes from a pipe running from a hot spring. Although the water from the pipe was quite hot, it didn't do much to warm the pool, even right next to the source. IT wouldn't be a great experience on a cold rainy day, but since we had a bit of sun we found it quite refreshing, and the less-than-warm water kept most people out so we had plenty of elbow room. The algae on the bottom of the pool made it so slippery it was a challenge to walk, but standing still in the shallow end we slowly slid towards the deeps until our feet were no longer touching. 

We spent more time in the pool than most of the people who were just there for a photo op, and had a nice hike back to the car. We had no other stops planned, but we ran into a small cave next to the road and decided to have a quick look. Steinahellir cave was used by farmers to house sheep, and became the areas parlimentary assembly site from 1818-1905. Supposedly the cave is haunted, but we didn't see any ghosts. There is a wooden wall covering the cave entrance and when we stepped inside we were amazed to find the ceiling and walls covered in tiny bright green ferns. It felt like a really magical place. We spent that night in Selfoss, on the Southwest corner of Iceland at a campsite we had stayed in while we were still on our bicycles, and one of our favorite campsites in Iceland so far.