Day 25-Akranes and swimming

   January 29-One advantage of the late sunrise is that you can sleep in after a late night of partying and not feel like you are being a slacker.  What I mean is that it is easy to convince yourself that it must not be morning, since it is still dark outside, so it must be proper to still be in bed.  This may help explain the penchant for Icelanders to party until late at night.  In any event, we all got up late and were pretty lazy all morning long. 
   The weather reports indicated the rain should start to let up around mid-afternoon, so around noon we decided to go exploring.  About halfway between Borgarnes and Reykjavík is Hvalfjörður, or whale fjord.  It used to take an hour to drive around it, but a 3.5 mile tunnel was built under the fjord in 1998.  The toll to drive through it is 1000 kronür (about $8) which is well worth the hour saved in driving.  We had always zoomed through here in our past trips between Bifröst and Reykjavík, so this time we drove to the tunnel, but stayed on its north side and explored the Akrafjall peninsula, including the town of Akranes.  Akranes has a population of 5200 people, making it one of the bigger towns in Iceland.  We did not do any shopping on this visit, but we understand that some people from Bifröst will do their "big-town" shopping in Akranes, if Borgarnes lacks something that they need.  This makes sense, because it only takes around 40 minutes to get to Akranes on excellent roads.  We took a little longer, because we stopped in Borgarnes at our favorite bakery for some coffee and hot chocolate.

Playing at Breið in Akranes

Bakery in Borgarnes that overlooks the fjord.

  

   We did not really have any specific goal in mind, so we just drove around Akranes until we came across two lighthouses and some tidal pools on a spit of land, called Breið.  The rain had basically ended and it was low tide, so we poked around in the tidal pools and watched the waves roll in.  Once we had had our fill, we drove to a bakery in Arkanes and bought some whole-grain bread, a loaf of olive, cheese, and onion bread, some cheese, and some cinnamon rolls, which we ate as we drove back to Borgarnes.  The Hays family loves Icelandic bakeries!

Mt. Akrafjall, the extinct volcano that overlooks Akranes.

The Hays ladies have fallen in love with the Icelandic horse.

   Iceland is known for its hot springs, which are a byproduct of its volcanic origins.  It is therefore a little embarrassing that is taken almost a month for us to finally get to a thermal bath as a family.  The girls have been able to enjoy the thermal bath at Varmaland as part of the school curriculum, so it has been the rest of us who have "suffered" from this delay.  The outside facilities at the sports center in Borgarnes include three big plastic slides, a kiddie pool, a lap pool, and three hot tubs maintained at 99, 102, and 108 degrees Fahrenheit.  There is also another pool, a basketball gym, a sauna, and a weight room inside the sports center.  The entire facility is open year-round.  We headed straight there and soaked, swam, and played until it closed at 5:30.  Sally did a little grocery shopping and then we came back home.