Today was the BIG day: hiking on a glacier. Now, I know you can do this all over the world, but there's just something about the idea of hiking a glacier in ICEland that gets me really excited. Plus it's a first for me no matter what so...cool beans.

Our first stop of the day was back at the lagoon. I was excited about it because I thought I would get to see everything in a whole new way. And I was right, but that "new way" was hidden in an impenetrable wall of fog so...not so great. We definitely appreciated how special it had been the night before! Just a few hundred meters from the lagoon was the ocean and another beautiful black sand beach. This particular one is called Diamond Beach because hundreds of shards from battered icebergs wind up on the shore. The sun turns them gold on some days, but I think we preferred them clear or deep blue. They stood out brilliantly against the black sand, and we were even able to climb around on some of the bigger ones.

The beach was beautiful but the glacier hike would be the showstopper of the day. It didn't take long to get there and my face was glued to the van window the entire time. Iceland has been an amazingly varied place: from one spot you might see a mountain, a volcano, a beach, a lava field, and a seemingly endless plane, all at the same time. I usually think of myself being IN the desert, IN the mountains, or AT the beach, but here you can experience some of everything all at once. The weather was a little worrying at first because the forecast said it would rain on us the entire time and the entire glacier was engulfed in fog when we pulled up, but it never rained and the fog was gone just minutes later. The joke around here is if you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes. It's truer than you'd think!

We got split up into smaller groups and our guide helped us get our harnesses, crampons, and helmets on. The safety gear looked cool but the only thing we actually needed were the crampons. The harness was just in case we fell down a hole (they could pull us out) and the ice axe was for "balance" (although it turned out to be super annoying to carry around, no matter how super-awesome we looked in the pictures haha).

There was a ten minute walk over a lava field to get to the ice and we got used to walking with crampons very quickly. It really wasn't that uncomfortable at all and I was pretty surprised at just how well they gripped the ice. There was never any slipping or sliding at all. The spikes made a distinct crunch with every step, and a group of ten people walking along sounded like the clippity-clop of a dozen horses. I had a hard time deciding where to look as we walked, right down at my feet or to the mountains in the distance. The ice was so pure and clear in some spots that you felt like you were hovering over an abyss. All that marred the view from the top of the ice to a hundred feet through it were tiny air bubbles trapped within by thousands of thaws and freezes. As the fog lifted we had piercing views of the glacier from front to back. The steep and jagged shards of ice seemed to be completely alien (especially for someone from Florida) and we weren't at all surprised to hear that this very spot had been used as sets in lots of movies, like Batman Begins and Interstellar. We'll have to rematch those now!

While I loved the clean, blue ice, Brittany enjoyed the parts with thick black lines running through them. I thought that was just dirt but it's actually ash from past volcanic eruptions. That's definitely cooler than just regular old dirt! It did add a unique dimension to the face of the berg, but for me: the bluer the better. At one point our guide encouraged us to lick the ice. I thought she was joking at first (I've seen A Christmas Story enough times to know how this plays out) but she was serious so I went for it. Surprisingly, my tongue is not still stuck to a glacier. Unsurprisingly, I now struggle with the perturbing thought that she might just tell everyone to do that in an attempt to see how stupid people are. Hmmm...

There were several other groups out on the ice but we were never on top of each other. I've been blown away by how many Asians are here! I seriously think they were 8 out of every 10 tourists, and I can't at all figure out why. Who knew Iceland was so popular in China? Towards the end of the hike we talked about how much it's changed in the last decade. They think they won't even be able to run this tour in a few years because the glacier is melting so rapidly. Brittany was happy that we were seeing it now while we still can; I just got depressed at the thought of seeing it disappear. I guess it's good that whole "global warming" thing is a hoax! Is there an emoticon for rolling your eyes?

We still had an amazing time, and we really did hit the jackpot with weather because the fog rolled back in less than half an hour after we left (we could see it as we ate at the gas station across the street). The weatherman did finally get one right in the evening though, and our last Northern Lights hunt was cancelled because conditioners were going to be so bad. Oh well, Norway next winter! We had a four hour ride back to Reykjavik and only stopped once to catch another waterfall (woohoo!). This one would've been pretty cool because you can actually walk completely behind it, but the path was closed because it was dark and they didn't want us to fall in and die. I respect the decision. On the plus side I got to use my fancy new camera in very low light conditions and was super impressed by the pictures it took. Now if I can just go a single year without dropping, smashing, soaking, and/or losing it...

After an unforgettable afternoon on a glacier the disappointment with the Aurora and hours in a cramped van hit us hard. We checked in to our hotel (getting an even more amazing room!) and decided to drown our piddly sorrows in lamb, one last and glorious time. Without the lights hunt we were back in the city by 8pm, so we at least got to have one more nice dinner in town. Google led the way and stumbled into a restaurant with awesome reviews and only two people inside. It seemed a little iffy at first, but when we ordered a glass of wine and the lady poured until it nearly flowed over the rim, we knew it'd be a good night :) After dinner we walked around the city until our faces froze. The building style was a little off-putting at first, but I've definitely come around and love the vibe of things. Christmas lights are going up all over town, and every street glowed with a dim, flickering effect.

It's getting late now. I'm tired and very full, but I can't help but think of tomorrow's hotel breakfast...BACON!!!