Our tourguide/bus driver told us some very good stories about the region all the way from history to traditional folk lore and stories. Our next stop was Gullfoss, a giant waterfall. Fortunately, when we got there, the rain had stopped even though it was still really cloudy. Gullfoss is fed by the river Hvíta and the falls themselves have three distinct 'steps' to them. The cavern below the falls is very deep and there's an enormous amount of water that rushes over the falls every second.

It's a bit of a walk down from the parking lot to observation spot beside the falls. And even though it wasn't raining, we still got wet because off all the spray the falls was giving off. The walk down was a little muddy and slippery, but the rocky outcrop you could stand on next to the falls was definitely dangerous. There was just a small chain to stop you from going over the edge and the rocks were uneven and wet. But it was so very cool to stand that close to the falls and watch the water go over and hear how loud it was.

After watching the waterfall for a while, we made our way back up the path, and then even further up to an observation deck on the top of the hill where our bus was now waiting. We were given a chance to go to the bathroom at the shop up there, and then we were on our way to the next stop.

Our next stop was the Geysir, a faithful (every 7 minutes) geyser. We wandered through the thermal area, stopping at some of the hot pools. The pools were actually interesting too. They were very clear, so you could see pretty far down into them, if the clouds of steam weren't obstructing them. As you walked through the park you would get the occasional warm breeze off the pools. Lexi and I were brave enough to take our sandals off and put our toes in some of the hot runoff water from a couple of the pools. The warm air and water kept us happy enough to watch the geyser go off three times.

The Geysir itself was HUGE when it blew. I even managed to get a fantastic video of it. If you waited beside the geyser you could tell when it was about to go by how far down the water would suck right beforehand. By the end we were all pretty cold and still damp, so we headed over to the shop nearby to warm up and look around. They had an information section that told you about the rifts and all the geothermal energy spots.

After a bit to eat at the shop, we started on our way back into Reykjavik. We made another quick stop at a small waterfall that had a salmon ladder. It wasn't a very long stop, just enough to look at the waterfall from across the river and stretch our legs.

The last stop was Kerið Crater Lake, a giant crater from a volcanic eruption about 3,000 years ago. Apparently, they sometimes have music festivals in the crater, which sounds like it would be pretty cool. The red volcanic rock was a bit different than the usual black rock we've been seeing. And the water at the bottom was pretty blue. If we would have had time, I would have walked down to the bottom, but we didn't stay very long their either. By that point it was really foggy even though the rain had mostly stopped.

From there we drove back into Reykjavik and the bus driver was nice enough to drop us off right in front of a fish restaurant for supper. We all had decided that we should try and eat a decent amount of seafood while we were there because fresh seafood is hard to come by in the prairies. The restaurant looked like a good, busy place, so we stopped in and ordered. Erica, Lexi and Melanie got fish and chips and I got a buck of mussels. Everything was really tasty and at a good price. We were all stuffed at the end.

After deciding we'd had a long enough day (and the restaurant was closing), Melanie and I took a long stroll back to our hostel along the sea edge. We stopped to look at the Harpa center and at the interesting viking/fishbone boat sculpture that was almost across from our hostel. It looked almost mysterious with the grey clouds hanging low over the land. Back to the hostel and right to bed since I was going to be up early.