9/12/2025
Our itinerary showed that we would be driving a lot today (~4hrs) and that felt like an understatement. We were able to drive up the coast and see a fun rhino rock. We walked out to a viewpoint of it and then walked down to the beach. The sand was black and there were lots of stones everywhere, no shells. From there we went to an old fortress. Mercy had been praying for mist and this is where the mist started and stayed with us for a couple hours. It was a complete white out, which made the mountain driving even more fun. There was one hour that I could barely see the hood of the car and the vehicle’s tail lights in front me as we did turns and went down steep mountain hills. We also came to a vehicle in the middle of the road. (Remember there are very few pull offs in Iceland.) We went around the car to find five young ladies in the ditch waiting for help with their flat tire. We offered to help them change the tire, and they said that was the problem. The rental car agency forgot to put a spare tire in their car! They would have to wait for hours for someone to show up with a tire.
We saw some beautiful waterfalls today. One was right beside the road and said to be the most scenic waterfall in Iceland, which I questioned, but it was pretty. Once we were fully on the Snaefellsnea Peninsula we noticed something else. The locals here are the first ones we have met that are done with the tourist season for the year. They are very short in their conversation, keeping it to a minimum of what is needed for us to be on our way. It has only been like that here, everywhere else the people have been terrific and beautiful. For the night, we booked the only place available (Freeze Cultural Center), and it turned out to be an interesting experience. Online it mentions it is a great place for families, and we have seen some pretty young kids running the hallways of the hotel. The receptionist was very nice and gave me the tour of the place before Jodi and Mercy joined me. I was glad she did, so that I could help navigate them to our room. The overall atmosphere is pretty dark, more like a late night bar experience. The life size mystical murals in the halls and in our room were a little overwhelming. With the all the nudity in the paintings and the hallway coffee table adult literature available I would not say it was kid friendly, but the room was clean and the beds were comfortable. We got a chance to sing worship songs and play cards games in the room before signing off for the night. We look forward to a fresh clean start with the new day.
Mercy’s Take (10/12) – I woke up at 6:35a. Daddy and I read Bible. Then mommy woke up around 7a. We went to breakfast, and it was so good. Daddy gave me a letter from Tirzah Joy Tuten and it was gorgeous. Thank you Tirzah! We went our way to the rhino rock and it was cool to see. We headed to Borgarvirki which was fun to walk around . Then we went to Kolugljufur Canyon, which was beautiful. We headed to Kirkjufell which was pretty. We are going to the hotel now. I went to bed at 9p.
