Glaciers and Icebergs

On Sunday we took a really long drive along the South coast of Iceland. But we saw really cool stuff. We left from the apartment and headed east along the Ring Road. That's the road that goes all the way around the island. As we drove the land

Lava rocks covered in moss along the road.

looked different. Lots of lava fields and mountains. One place the mountain had caves and sod/cave houses that were used for barns. Lots and lots of sheep.

We stopped at a waterfall called Skogafoss, which is over 186 feet tall. We climbed steep stairs to get to the top. I heard from a local Iceland person that a settler long ago hid a chest of gold behind the waterfall and that glittering gold is what makes on the rainbows!






From the waterfall we headed to Iceland's largest National Park (and Europe's largest to0 called Skaftafell National Park. We took a hike to see one of the largest glaciers. One of the things that happened to this area is a volcano erupted in 1362 that was almost as big as the one that covered Pompeii (that's what mom read at the visitors center) but the volcano is under the glacier now. There were all sorts of little flowers and plants that grow over the lava.















In front of the glacier at the National Park.





From the Park we drove on to Jokulsalon, which is also called the Glacier Lagoon because of all the Icebergs in the lagoon. The icebergs "calve " off from the Bridamerkurjokull glacier. Calve off means big chunks of ice drop off into the water. After awhile they float out into the ocean. Pieces of the

Picking up an ice berg; it was cold!!!

iceberg also come to shore. So I got to pick one up. Some of the icebergs look like things like a whale or Darth Vader's head, or
the Statue of Liberty. It was a really, really, long day but it was fun to see all the stuff.