When you've had a rent car for a week …

Iceland August -September 2012

So, it's time to leave. Like many (most) of our vacations, we wish we had more days to see more things. It's especially true in Iceland.

When we first told people we were coming here, there was a plethora of reactions. They ranged from "ICELAND?!?! What made you decide to go there?" to "What is there in Iceland. Besides ice?" to "Oh! I've been once and would love to go back."

The people here are wonderful, the scenery indescribable, the experiences unforgettable. In one week, we hiked to the toe of two glaciers and walked on the base of an active volcano. And along the way, we had multiple close encounters with sheep.

Besides their pastries, Icelanders love signs. One type of particular note are the digital weather signs along the main road. They display the temperature and the wind speed (in meters per second). There is also a display that most times is blank, but at other times has a red number, such as yesterday. We are fairly certain the red number isn't good. One guide book said wind speed over 20 m/sec was enough to take the paint off your car and a taxi driver said sometimes cars get blown off the road. Yesterday, it was a constant 17 m/sec. To save you the conversion, that is approximately 38 mph. Sustained. Not gusts. But, at least it wasn't raining.

Seljalandsfoss, blowing backwards (See non-blowing version in Aug 30 post titled "On the road again"

As mentioned in the last post, we headed to the Westmann Islands where there are two active volcanoes. The last eruption was in 1973 and the town evacuated via fishing boats. Of interesting note, the flowing lava threatened to close off the harbor, rendering the island essentially useless. Geologists decided to try stopping the lava by spraying it with water. Although laughed at, the U.S. Corp of Engineers flew in pumps and unbelievably, it worked.

Looking over the lava field to the mouth of the harbor

And because it was so windy, we drove to the "windiest spot in Iceland" where John stood on a table to get the right photo. My fingers were crossed he wasn't blown across the field and over the cliff.

The Westmann's are also a significant nesting home for puffins. Unfortunately, they have already migrated, so we missed them. The islanders are very proud of their puffins, although not so proud as to keep from eating them. Many of the street signs are puffin themed and puffin souvenirs are readily available.

Fabulous Puffin sign

Fishing is the leading industry. As such, this is one of the best and most entertaining building murals we've seen. John dubbed it "How Fish is Made."

How Fish is Made

Back to the title …

We have some major car decluttering to do before returning it.

Goodbye from Iceland.