On our second day in Iceland was packed full with sightseeing adventures. We woke up for a quick breakfast in our hotel. The Center Hotel Plaza provides a great breakfast buffet in their lovely dining room. Then we hurried out to load up the car since we had limited time on our street parking, and we headed toward Rt 1, the Ring Road. It was an overcast day, and the rain sputtered off and on as we drove from place to place. 

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Our first stop was Seljalandsfoss and Gljufrabui. Words fall short of expressing how amazing and delightful it is to walk the path around and behind Seljalandsfoss and photograph it from so many different angles. We made good use of our waterproof overpants and jackets as the spray around the falls will seriously drench you! I spent a good bit of time photographing both with my "real" camera, cell phone, and Go Pro. Roger was so patient waiting for me and walking around taking his own cell phone shots. 

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After we finished the loop around Seljalandsfoss, we walked about a 1/2 km or so over to Gljufrabui falls (Don't ask me how to pronounce that one. And I'm not quite sure why it doesn't end in "foss" like all the other waterfall names.) This falls has a completely different personality. Nestled in a canyon, there is a narrow passage where you have to walk on rocks around the canyon walls to get into the inner chamber. There was quite a line of tourists waiting (some not so patiently) for the opportunity to get into or out of the canyon. Once inside, this narrow falls was a lovely sight and people took turns climbing up on a big boulder for a photo op in front of the falls. This small falls is easy to bypass in favor of the main attraction of Seljalandsfoss, but for those willing to take a little extra time, the visit is worthwhile. After spending somewhere near 2 hours at these two falls, we headed to the snack bar, the restrooms, and back to the car.

Iceland Seljalandsfoss and Gljufrabui We hopped back in the car and headed a few minutes down the road to Skogafoss. I commented that I needed to pick up the photography pace and not spend as long at this stop if we were to be on track for the rest of the day....but that plan went out the window! We probably spent nearly as long at this stop too. Skogafoss is majestic and awesome in the sheer volume of water that rushes over the falls. You can't safely get too close and you will certainly be soaked from the spray as you venture towards it. I spent a bit of time with my tripod and ND filter to work on some "smooth water" shots from a distance and also closer up. It was difficult to shoot this falls without people in the shots since the approach was pretty much straight on. There was a long staircase up the cliff on one side of the falls, so where you see a staircase, there seems to be an obligation to climb them and see what's up there. So up we went. At the top we enjoyed the view of the falls and the view of the flatland out toward the sea. We saw there was a path following the river upstream and wished we had time to see where it went, but we had to keep moving along our route so we headed back down and toward the car. But first we stopped at the snack bar and restrooms. We bought a couple of sandwiches and a rocky road dessert bar which was one of the best things I ate in Iceland. We split it. Wish we had bought 2 of them!

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A little ways down the road we made our next stop. Not at a waterfall. This stop was especially for Roger. It's a 1930s DC-3 plane wreck which has been there since 1973. The plane's carcass still sits out in the wilderness near the beach and has become a tourist attraction. Since Rog is in aviation, we had to stop and see this. We hiked the 2 or so miles out to the wreck. I have to admit I was not feeling it on this hike. The wind had picked up and it had gotten a little colder. And my back and hips hurt. (It's on ongoing thing for me). And the overcast skies still did not bode well for our chances of seeing the northern lights that night, but I prayed anyway for the chance to see and photograph them. After a looong walk (about 45 min) we finally made it out to the wreck and spend a while photographing it while Rog climbed in, on, and all around it. I was starting to get a little antsy about making it to the rest of the stops before dark and decided I did NOT want to walk all the way back to the car, both for the discomfort and for the time. There was a shuttle service running between the wreck site and the parking so we took that back instead.

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We realized we were not going to make all our planned stops before dark, so we decided to push our last waterfall to the next day and just hit one more stop before dark. We drove another hour or so to the Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach near the town of Vik. This beach is known not just for the black sand, but also the volcanic basalt columns and the nesting area of puffins in the summer. This beach is said to be the most dangerous beach in Iceland for the sneaker waves which come up and take tourists by surprise. Numerous people have been overtaken and drenched in icy waters and some have been swept away and died. We were well informed about this and were careful not to turn our backs to the sea or venture too close. We did spend quite a while exploring and climbing on the basalt columns, and I worked on some long exposures of the sea and rock formations. We also noted that the sheep in the area like to graze quite close to the edge of cliffs!

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Afterwards we left and drove a few more minutes into Vik, a cute little coastal town at the base of a mountain. A little white church with a red roof up on a hilltop overlooks the town below. We found a gas station and a shop next door called Icewear which turned out to be a wonderful rest stop. There is a huge outerwear store, souvenir shop, and restaurant all in one! We each found something to eat at the restaurant, browsed the store, and used the facilities. I highly recommend this stop to anyone passing through Vik! 

It was after dark by the time we left Vik, and we still had about 2 hours to travel to our hotel. On a 2 lane road through the wilderness. (I would NOT recommend traveling after dark out in the wilderness, but we didn't know any better.) I called the hotel to let them know we would be arriving late. We drove and drove, and passed an occasional truck going in the opposite direction. I looked out my window into the darkness. And saw stars. AND SAW STARS!!! It was CLEAR! I got excited and we both started watching for northern lights. Roger was seeing the northern skies on his side of the car. And he's the one who spotted the faint green glow. I had read that the northern lights sometimes only last for a few minutes so I excitedly urged him to find a place to pull over! (It is against the law to stop on the road and there is no shoulder so we had to wait until we found a pull off.) I grabbed my camera, tripod, and cell phone for light so I could see what I was doing to set up. It was pitch black except for 1 car that passed. I was so excited and thankful to God for the opportunity to witness this amazing phenomenon that I had wanted to see since I was quite young. And so happy to have a couple of pictures too!

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After about 15 min or so the color started fading, and we hopped back into the car to continue on toward the hotel. I must have been grinning from ear to ear in the darkness as we finished our drive to Hali Country Hotel. This is one of the only places to stay out in the middle of nowhere in the southeast of the island. The place was completely silent though the parking lot was full. It seems like things pretty much shut down soon after dark. We found our room key on the front desk and settled into a very clean and comfortable and IKEA-like room.