9/13/2025
We all slept decent and got on the road by 8:30a. Our first stop was the beach. The wind was howling and the waves crashing. It was powerful and beautiful. You could lean into the wind to allow it to hold you up. To be fun I thought I would touch the water. On some beaches this is not a safe thing to do, but this seemed like I could walk up to it and just touch it as it was receding. My plan looked like it would go off flawlessly, until a wave snuck up behind me and soaked my feet. Fortunately for me the car was 2 minutes away, with a clean dry pair of socks and boots waiting for me. We were the only ones at the beach, which was wonderful.
Next we stopped at a volcano crater. There were steps that went up to the top of it. The wind continued to be so strong that at one point Mercy looked like she was going to be blown off the crater. It was fun to be hiking in such strong winds. We continued the rest of the day stopping at beaches, lookouts, and waterfalls. We wound our way along the peninsula and eventually finished with all the requisite sites and started the long drive to our next hotel. When I was setting up the hotels, I goofed one and put us in an area we have already seen. There is a unique waterfall in the area that we plan to see tomorrow, so not all is lost, but it did mean a couple hours drive through the golden circle that we saw when we first came to Iceland.
Mercy’s Take (10/13) – I woke up at 6:40a. I slept ok and got a rat in my hair when I woke up. Today we were visiting a lot of beaches which is fun, but we’ve been hiking a lot, which is ok but a little tiring. We went to some waterfalls too. When we went to our hotel I got a letter from Mrs. Chris Paulsen.
