Iceland day 3

June 7- Apparently we didn't think to take photos of the hostel we stayed in, but it was a school built in 1946 and super cute. It is located near Selfoss, in the Golden Circle area and is called Ljosafossskoli- good luck pronouncing it! Aaron got the pleasure of sleeping on the bottom bunk on what is probably the squeakiest bunk bed we've ever heard, but Dena and Savannah each got a very comfortable twin bed. We were at the hostel for 2 nights, June 6 and 7, and departed June 8.

On the 7th we did some of the touristy things recommended on the Golden Circle, starting first with a lunch buffet of local cuisine. It was actually very delicious, and the rye bread could probably qualify for it's own food group. It's made daily by putting the dough (it's more like a batter than a dough, but thicker) into tins and then burying them in the ground. It's cooked by the geothermal heat over a period of 24 hours, and is so soft and sweet. None of this dry, grainy bread for us, thank you very much. It was delicious plain but better when slathered in gorgeous Icelandic butter!

Following lunch we went to Gullfoss waterfall; it's larger and more powerful than Niagra, and absolutely stunning! The landscape allowed us to get super close to the fall- we were only feet away. We originally intended on only spending 20-30 minutes there, but it was almost 3 hours later when we finally drove away! Luckily the sun never sets during the summer there so we never ran out of daylight.

We started at the gift shop and there was this most amazing bench made from twisted wood- it was so beautiful, Savannah would have arranged to ship it to Kansas if she could have figured out how to do it!

Then there was the most adorable hat that should have been purchased, but wasn't :(

We spent a lot of time just basking in the mist of the falls.

We finally dragged ourselves away and headed toward the Geysir geothermal area. It's home to Geysir (fitting, no?), the O.G. (original geyser) that all other geysers are named after! We stopped on the way so Dena could channel her inner horse whisperer.

There was a gift shop at the geyser that had some traditional Icelandic wool clothing and farming equipment. Can't you imagine a little nephew running around in that adorable jumper? We also ate dinner at the cafe near the gift shop.

After dinner we went back to the place we had the lunch buffet (Laugarvatn Fontana), because they had some amazing geothermal pools and sauna's there. We didn't take the camera, but it was as amazing as it sounds! 4 different naturally heated geothermal pools, all with different temperatures, and several steam sauna's- you could hear the geothermal water bubbling underneath the floor! We all got some great sleep that night after spending 2 hours soaking in the tubs.