Hvalfjörður & Glymur
Today we drove around Hvalfjörður, a picturesque inlet north of Reykjavík. The mountains come straight down into the water. Along the way, we came upon Fossárrétt, a small waterfall with what looks to be remnants of a settlement.

We set out on our first hike to see Glymur, Iceland's second tallest waterfall at 198 meters. It had been the tallest until scientists recently discovered one over 200 meters on the Vatnajökull glacier area.

Unfortunately, they had just removed the log bridge to make it to the other side of the river to hike up the other mountain. After much contemplation of trying to cross the river anyway (and getting soaked in the process), we ultimately decided against it. If they had pulled the log up, it was for good reason. So, unfortunately, we didn't get back to see Glymur, which is located in a gorge and accessed by one heck of a hike atop huge cliffs. The gorge, however, was spectacular. A little disappointing but probably the best decision to not break the rules in the middle of Iceland in the winter.

Reykholt
Reykholt is a small town with a lot of history. Snorri Sturluson is one of Iceland's most famous men, as a historiographer and a prolific writer. He settled in the area around 1200. Today, the Reykholt area includes his bath (shown below), a library, his garden, archaeological finds from the medieval era, a church, a rectory, a hot spring, and a medieval path, along with some houses and a small hotel.

Hraunfosser & Barnafoss
Barna means "children" in Icelandic. Sad story, but two children died at this waterfall when they fell from a natural stone arch. After learning of this, their mother had it demolished. The waterfall is now called Barnafoss (foss = waterfall). The water was so beautiful. The blue color was like ice from glaciers, but this water was far from frozen as it was moving very rapidly as it crashed between the rock.

Hraunfosser is an incredible waterfall about 200 yards down the river from Barnafoss. Hraun means lava, and fosser means multiple waterfalls. What makes Hraunfosser so amazing is that the water is seeping out from the lava rock with no visible river supplying it. It's like tears are weeping from the rock itself. Everything was pretty much iced over today, so it was quite an experience walking around trying not to slip and fall into the river. We got there as the sun was setting, and as you can see from the photos, the view will make for quite the majestic memory for us.

Húsafell
We are currently parked in the campground at Húsafell, a small town towards the interior of the island (look it up on a map to see!). The campground is closed, but Iceland has a law that allows people to stay one night on any public land with no questions asked and no repercussions. We made some pasta with sauce for dinner. While it's not the homemade sauce we're used to, it was still pretty good. You really can't be petty and complain about that kind of stuff when you experience what we did today.

To clarify the heater conundrum: our van is working fine. It's just that the Webasto heating system in the van uses power from the battery that's charged by the solar panel. If that battery is drained then it starts pulling from the van battery, along with a small amount of diesel from the tank. So basically, if we left it on all night, we wouldn't be able to start the car in the morning. Once we park we leave the van running for awhile to warm it up a bit. Then we turn on the heating system for a little while. We sleep with a sleeping bag, a fleece blanket, and a thin comforter while wearing sweat pants, a t shirt, socks, and a hoodie. This winds up being too hot for me, so I kick some of the clothes off. Last night, it wasn't too bad in here. We just need to make sure our heads are covered so we're not breathing cold air. About 15 minutes before we wake up, I turn the van back on to thaw everything out. It seemed to work out well for us this morning.

One other fun fact: our cooler keeps freezing everything! I think it's because it gets so cold at night. So we currently have frozen eggs, milk, sliced ham, and a block of Gouda. It will take some planning to make sure they're thawed out for eating.

Tomorrow starts our tour of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, which is some amazing landscape! But I guess you can say that about all of Iceland...