Our first stop today was Krafla Volcano which is in the Mývatn region. We went searching for Leirhnjúkur, but since we are here during to "off season" the trails were closed. We opted not to go searching for it since we had read about how dangerous the ground was. There were many unmarked hot spots on and around the volcano. Also, the visitors centre was closed, so there was no one to ask for help!
We followed a well-marked trail to the rim of the volcano and admired the crater. One man who was much more adventurous than any of us, was cross country skiing and made his way inside the crater...you can see the tiny speck of of a man in the picture below.
On the other side of the crater were boiling mud pots and steam vents.
Logan enjoyed the walk, but mostly had fun eating the snow!
Our next stop was the Goðafoss Waterfall. It was pretty spectacular, and it was super cool that we could actually walk almost right to the edge of it! Logan wasn't thrilled with this walk, so Angus and I took turns wth him.
One of the neatest parts of this waterfall is the story behind it's name. There was a man who made christianity the official religion in Iceland after throwing his statues of the Norse gods into the waterfall. (hence "god"-afoss)
After our picnic lunch beside the waterfall, we took a beautifully scenic drive to Akureyri.
Once we checked into our hostel, we went to Kjarnaskógur woods to play in a cool playground.
Logan was fearless climbing up the stairs and going down the slides!
This slide in particular was super cool looking, and he was having a blast playing with another little girl.
After spending time sliding in the park, we found wobbly bridge to cross!
Logan felt that he needed to cross it a few times!
On the other side was a track and some sort of work-out structure. We thought this looked more like a toddler adventure structure...so Logan spent quite a bit of time balancing and walking across this!
He may have been thirsty from all of the playing, but also, this fountain was a really fun challenge for him to drink from! It was hard to pull him away from this!
One of the maintenance workers in the park told us that his family owned a horse farm down the road. We had been admiring the Icelandic Horses from the road side, and were thrilled when he suggested that we go and see these ones. While we were admiring them, he drove by and showed us to pick the new green grass for them to eat.
...Logan was very excited by the horses!
Our next stop was the Arctic Botanical Gardens. The fountains weren't running, and may plants were not in bloom yet. But we had fun walking around this garden area. The gazebo was also a fun "house" for Logan to play in.
After our adventurous day we decided to grab some ice cream from Brynja. It is known for being some of the best ice cream in Iceland...it was delish!
On our way back to the hostel, we did a quick stop at the Akureyrarkirkja...which reminded us of the church in Reykjavik (because it's designed by the same person)!
Tomorrow we're going to try whale watching again!!!
We made our way to our hostel in Sauðárkrókur in North-West Iceland. After spending all day in the car, we took Logan for a run on the beach where he was very excited to find lots of sea shells to throw in the water!
