Iceland Day 3 - The Day a Waterfall Tried to Kill Me

Day 3 in Iceland started out with so much hope!  We were road tripping to see waterfalls and glaciers and the black beach!  It was going to be a lot of hours in the car, but we were so excited. The plan was to end up at Esra's family summer house in the evening after our day of adventure!  I couldn't wait.  We loaded up the party bus and were on the road by 6:30 a.m.

We drove passed fields and fields of lupine. So gorgeous. 

We finally spotted the first waterfall in the distance.  Seljalandfoss! 

I was beyond excited!  I may have actually been clapping in the car when we pulled into the parking area. We climbed out of the party bus and all scattered and started taking pictures and exploring.  

Callie and I were making our way up, taking pictures and getting wet from the spray of the waterfall.  It was thunderously loud being so close to the waterfall.  I yelled to Callie "Take a selfie with me!"  

Aren't we cute? 

We were following the path to walk around behind the waterfall.  It was slippery, rocky and muddy and I was so happy that my hiking boots had great traction. Little did I know that those damn boots were at that very moment plotting to kill me!  The shoelace loop from the right boot was getting hooked on the lace hooks on the left boot.  Basically, my boots were tied together.  I took a step and my foot did not come with and I went down hard.

See this path?  This is where I fell.  My knee hit a rock and I knew immediately I was hurt.  I was rolling around on the path screaming and cussing a blue streak.  I was cussing so hard!  Callie was trying to help me and I was screaming "Unhook my shoes!  My shoes are stuck!"  She couldn't figure out what I was talking about.  When she finally saw my shoes hooked together she was able to get them separated, but it was hard to do.  They were really stuck!  I could not even think about getting upright so I just kept rocking back and forth on the ground.  Esra spotted me on the ground from the other side of the waterfall and came running to help me.  He was able to get me on my feet but my knee hurt so bad. We carefully made our way back down, limping and dragging my stupid leg.  

Let's go back to the picture above for a second.  See how close it is to the edge where I could have fallen to my death into the water with my coat on and my boots tied together?  I have woken up in a cold sweat several nights with nightmares of how much worse it could have been.   

I was so mad, frustrated, hurt...could not believe this happened.  

My coat was covered in mud.  

My face was covered in dirt.  

I was trying to smile through the pain.  It was hard.  I was so sad that this trip might be derailed by my stupid fall.  Would I have to go to a hospital?  Surgery?  Could I sit in the car?  Would I be able to fly home?  So much uncertainty.  We were in the middle of nowhere, so all we could do was the next thing.  Back to the party bus and we would see how it felt as we went along.  

More to come on our adventure.....