Day 84-decision time

   March 28-The big decision that had to be made was whether the family wanted to spend next week exploring northern Iceland or southern Iceland.  If they chose to go north, we would drive the Ring Road all around Iceland.  This sounded appealing, because it meant that they could have the opportunity to see more of the country.  However, Diane was worried about keeping the kids cooped up in the vehicles for that much time.  Furthermore, the drive
around Snæfellsnes made them realize that there would likely be long stretches of road without services.  This was more likely to be true in northern Iceland, where winter is still ongoing and fewer restaurants and museums have begun to open for the summer tourist season.  A visit to southern Iceland would mean that they would see the sights that most tourists see when they visit Iceland, including spending time in Reykjavík and doing the
"Golden Circle."  Since these places are visited year-round, there would be more restaurants open, but there would also be more crowds.  The group spent a portion of the morning discussing these pros and cons and ultimately decided to spend next week in southern Iceland.  With that decision made, Shan could begin to put together a map of possible sights to visit, so they could plan the week more effectively.


Shan and the Fritzes on the rim of Grábrók.

    Because the sight-seeing plans of the visiting crew did not interest them much, the Hays kids went to school and Sally spent most of the day grading the final exams that her students completed on Monday.  Meanwhile, Shan led his family on a hike up Grábrók late in the morning.  This is the cinder cone just north of the Bifröst campus.  The weather continued to be windy, cool, and foggy, like it has been almost continually since the family showed up, so Diane decided to stay back in the apartment.  Everyone else enjoyed getting to hike into an old volcanic vent and to see the views from the top of Grábrók.  After we returned from that excursion, we all went out to eat at the Kaffi Bifröst, which is the on-campus eatery. 

Norm and Greg in front of the
reconstructed longhouse at Eiriksstaðir

   Shan then drove his family out to Hvammsfjörður to drive up the Hauksadalur valley to see Eiriksstaðir.  This is one of the locations that Eirik the Red farmed in Iceland before he left to settle Greenland.  Since it has not yet opened for summer, all the family could do was see the site where the original longhouse was excavated and check out the reconstructed longhouse from the outside.  They also read about the exploits of Eirik the Red and his various children who played important roles in the Viking exploration of North America.  Again, the windy, cool weather kept everyone from wandering around too long at the site.
   We left Eiriksstaðir and drove up the coast a short ways to the town Búðardalur to take advantage of the N1 filling station's restrooms and food store.  Then, we crossed the base of
Snæfellsnes on a dirt road and drove on down to Borgarnes.  We had hoped to take the kids swimming in Borgarnes, but the wind would have made it miserable, so we headed back to Bifröst instead.  All of us except for Sally went out for supper at Hraunsnef, which is the country restaurant and hotel a couple miles north of Bifröst.  About the time we got back from Hraunsnef, Sally headed over to it for her biweekly knitting group.