As we leave Seljalandsfoss and drive west the sun starts to touch the horizon. We don’t have far to go but I’m worried the daylight will run out before we can get there. The Ring Road passes through Hella, the village where we are to turn off and start following gps coordinates.
I stop to take a photo of the sign as we enter town and giggle to myself as I dream up ways of finishing the phrase…Hella beautiful, Hella waterfalls, Hella rainbows…Hella Iceland. They all fit.
The hotel I booked on AirBnB is down a crushed lava rock gravel road ten or twenty miles. Low clouds and the darkening light obscure the hills around us slightly, but this part of Iceland reminds me of home and the Belle Fourche river breaks east of Sturgis, South Dakota. Except for the jet black gravel of the road perhaps.
It’s cooling off when we arrive at the red corrugated tin-sided converted barn and we opt for a dip in the hot tub. While it’s not the wild backcountry hot pot experience we had been searching for, its lovely and relaxing and easy to follow up with a glass of wine and an early night under the heavy duvet topped with a sheepskin over my feet. Autumn nights are cool here. Iceland must be hella cold in winter.
In the morning we sleep in late but not so late that we miss the delicious farm fresh eggs at breakfast. I retrace our steps out to the Ring Road to go an hour or so before turning off and connecting with the Golden Circle.
Our next room is in Fludir, so I set the car’s navigation system to lead us there. Less than an hour ahead we arrive. It’s not even lunch time yet so we decide to grabs some snacks and drive on to Geysir, famed for its…well, I’m sure it’s easy to guess.
Along the way we stop to pet some roadside ponies and wait our turn at one of the countless single lane bridges.
Geysir is busy with tourists. The very punctual and quickly reloaded Geysir keeps the crowd moving along fairly quickly.
Just a few minutes up the road is another of this country’s beautiful waterfalls, Gullfoss.
And of course, Iceland has delivered another daily rainbow.
Sturgis Chick 
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