.png "MA.png")
Wind, wind, wind. Rain, rain, rain. The weather gods threw the kitchen sink at us today. 45 degrees and 50 mph winds. It was raining sideways and foggy as hell. We left the comfortable confines of the Puffin Inn in Vik and, before leaving town, stopped at the little church that sits high atop a hill overlooking the town. There are some great vistas and a picturesque graveyard to explore as well as hikes for those so inclined.
After leaving Vik, our first stop was Skogafoss Waterfall.It is an impressive 200 feet high. Skogafoss is a major tourist attraction so there were a lot of people there. There is a major river that flows from the waterfall. In summer, fishermen fish for salmon and char. It is a classically beautiful setup. You can walk up quite a ways to where the waterfall drops until the blowback from the force of the fall showers you in mist and wind. Juli and I decided to walk up the steep stairway to the top of the falls and the hills above. The river on top also runs hard and fast. The view on top is impressive.
You can see miles and miles into the distance. We walked a quarter mile or so up along the river chasm and then headed back down. Got some great pics and then it was time to move on to the next waterfall of the day at Seljalandsfoss.
It is located right off the main highway. Again the parking lot was packed with cars, campers and mobile homes. You can see why. The face of the cliff runs parallel to the highway and presents a panoramic view of four distinct falls dropping off of some majestic bluffs. Seljalandsfoss is the main attraction and for good reason. It is beautiful and dramatic and offers the unique advantage of being able to walk behind it. The hardest part of the visit was walking the quarter mile to the falls from the parking lot and braving the howling winds and rain. Juli and I made our way up to and around the back of the falls. Fantastic experience and some amazing photos and videos. It’s hard to imagine a more beautiful falls. When we had finished our tour, we headed back to the parking lot, totally soaked and tired, but thankful that we had gotten to experience it.
By now it was about 1:30 pm and well past lunch and hot coffee. We had to pass through the town of Selfoss to get to our rental cabin and stopped for lunch at a really good restaurant called Kaffi Crus. Selfoss is a major commercial center for the tourist trade with large grocery stores, several gas stations, good restaurants and other amenities. Kaffi Crus was a lot like the other restaurants that we had eaten at, it was wood paneled, warm and inviting. The waitstaff was attentive and fun. The food was very good. The girls had fish and chips that were really tasty and, because I couldn’t make up my mind, I had a big bowl of very tasty potato soup and bread and an order of local baked Brie. After eating the soup, I was too full to even touch my cheese. Of course I took it along with a piece of the famous apple cake.
It was a short 25 minute drive back to our cabin. The cabin is okay albeit on the rustic side.
The terrain is ugly, with brown, scrubby vegetation and a boggy, lumpy yard. I would describe it as “Little House on the Tundra”. But it had three small bedrooms, a kitchen and even a hot tub and washing machine. All the comforts of home. It took me a little while to work up the courage to get in the hot tub due to the roaring wind and the driving rain but once I got in, it was great. 
Susan did a load of laundry. The girls are now deep into their card games and it’s happy hour. The sun finally broke through for a few minutes. We are comfortable and warm inside. All is good.
Early in the evening, the rain finally let up for a few minutes. We took advantage of the break to take a walk down to the lake, about four blocks. Thingveiller Lake is enormous, several miles long and rugged. Not the kind of place that you go swimming. After a day of wind and almost constant rain the sun burst out. A rainbow appeared. I am always careful when I go out in Icelandic weather. If it’s raining at all, I leave my big Canon camera in the car or house and just take my phone for pictures. Susan and I had walked about halfway to the water when it felt like the brief pause in the rain might hold for a while. So I hustled back to the house and grabbed it. The light revealed a large lake with big whitecaps. The wind on the point was a steady 50 mph or so. Even with the hood on my rain jacket pulled tight over my baseball cap, the wind tried to rip it off my head.
The sun broke in and out of the clouds providing some dramatic lighting on the water and the distant mountains. We took a bunch of pictures and then were happy to get out of the gale. Nancy and Juli both jumped in the hot tub.
We made a nice dinner out of our lunch leftovers and other remaining groceries, talked for a while and then had to get down to business for our nightly Feffer game. It was 9 pm and Nancy was starting to fade so she declared that we had one hour to complete our game. We obliged. Nancy declared that she was getting a chest cold. JT went to bed a winner for the second night in a row.