Huge waterfalls, an Israeli and wet pants

We arrived at KEF at 630am after a night of rough sleep for me, none for Andy. It doesn't matter, we made it! At the car rental place, Andy commented how big thick everyone is here.  Of course not the little guy who helped us at the rental place. The big guys definitely look like Vikings but the little guy would have been an archer he said. LOL. Got in our little VW (how is this not the smallest size?) and headed to Rekyavik for an emergency cup of coffee and food. Hunger, exhaustion, and me not being able to understand the street signs is already taking a toll. It's is going to be interesting.


The town (city?) of Reykavik is small and very cute. We parked and ran into the first bakery we saw and immediate ordered two coffees, two pretzels a doughnut, and two sammies for the road. I feel rejuvenated and ready to go! We head out of the city and start on the Golden Circle. Well, we didn't take the direct route, I'm still getting used to the map and names. 

It's amazing how there's no one here. Driving on the "highway" is beautiful, green and no traffic. Our first stop was at Pingvellir to get our first views of some water and scope out what well be diving in tomorrow. It's really windy and cold. How am I going to get in that water? I'm already freezing. Andy decided to not go immediate to the bathroom since it was $1, he can hold it he says. After we walk around he asks me to run up to the visitors center and get him a bathroom pass stat. Being the amazing girlfriend that I am, I rush and get him a card so he can waddle his way to the bathroom. Mental note, don't hold it, it's not worth shitting your pants to save $1. We head east and see a hitchhiker after we pass Laugarvatn. He's smiling and soaking wet so we do the right thing and stop. He's David from Jersey then Israel. Super nice and he tags along to our next stop at Geysir.



The actual Geysir only goes off 2-3 times a day since too many tourists threw rocks in it, but Strokkur goes off every 5 min. It's was amazing to see the water in the hole moving around ready to blow. It catches you off guard and everyone cheers. We head up the mountain and fine a boiling spring, Andy puts his hand in it. Well not really, he puts his hand in the water 10 ft from the spring and it was still very hot. Putting your hand in the mineral water is very silky, I can't wait to get in some hot springs!

Our next stop is Gulfoss, an amazing HUGE series of waterfalls. The power of the falls is amazing, it seems more powerful than Niagra as I remember it. We get some awesome pics and move on. David shows us the way to a secret waterfall hidden along a trail near some summer homes. Andy Audi have jeans on, which are soaked since the trail isn't clear and our jeans re brushing up against the shrubs. Our feet fall in water and we are very soaked. Oh well, it's part of the experience. The hike was completely worth it. It was a set of smaller waterfalls but the rocks were black and the ravine in the middle of the river makes the water crystal blue. We are so lucky to have found it. It pays to pick up hitchhikers!


Now we are hungry and stop in one of the two open places there are to eat.  Just then, 40 large blond Icelandic teens come running down the road pushing cars that aren't broken down. WTF? These kids were beats! Even Andy was intimidated. Haha. I couldn't handle being around them and I didn't want to pay $20 for a small pizza so we went to a restaurant around the corner. That place was expensive. $20 for a bowl of soup!? He'll no. The three of us decided to get some items at the store and cook at the hostel David stayed the previous night. The owners were so nice letting us cook in the kitchen. We had some amazing baked beans and hotdogs. After we ate and warmed up a bit, we headed back out into the rain to drop David off so he could hitch a ride back to Rakyvik and we could pitch our tent.



The visitors center wanted $27 for us to camp there. F that. It's free if we just go down the road a bit. We found a great place off the main road. It was only 6, too early to go to bed to we headed for the thermal baths. They were amazing. The saunas were hot as shit though and I thought my skin was going to melt off. Back and forth between the warm and hot baths. We relaxed in the warmth with the light rain hitting out face. We previously called to confirm that we were going to dive in the potential hurricane tomorrow. It shouldn't be a problem she said. Oh good. Lets do it so I can get over my nervousness of getting in this water and a huge winds when I get out. Even the farmers are getting their sheep off the mountain so they don't die in the potential snow storm. 

Back to our found camping spot to quickly put up our tent. It's raining a bit but not too cold. It's 930 and finally getting dark. I'm going to sleep well tonight. There are no snakes or large animals. Just Icelandic ponied that could trample us I supposed, but how much damage could they do? 
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Diving between tectonic plates in 35 degrees, hail pelting my face,ninja jumping

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And we're off!! SFO>SEA>KEF