Iceland Day 3 - Continued

We last left off in Iceland with me nursing a broken knee caused by a murderous pair of hiking boots and a near death experience at a waterfall.  Perhaps, I am being a bit dramatic here, but I am Bob's daughter.  I took a couple of Aleve during the drive and prayed that my knee would feel better by the time we got to our next stop.  It was a bigger waterfall and I was so excited to see it.  No idea what the name of the waterfall is, but I am sure it was 17 letters long (these Icelandic folks are not afraid of stringing some letters together!)

LOOK AT THIS!!!  Isn't it stunning? 

I lowered myself to the ground from a sit position in the car and the pain made me nauseous.  UGH!!!  I hobbled (with lots of help) over to a bench to just stare at the beauty around me while the rest of the crew took off to get a better look.  Megan was kind enough to take my camera and get pictures for me. 

She climbed these stairs to get pictures from above. 

The white dots on this hillside are sheep.  They are everywhere and they are so dang cute.  So many babies!

I knew Iceland was going to be pretty, but you really cannot even understand how beautiful this country is until you see it in person. 

Back to the party bus and on to the Black Beach!  Look at this!  Isn't it amazing?  

I had to enjoy it from pictures and videos because the walk to the beach was more than I could manage.  In fact, it took me a solid 30 minutes to go 15 feet to a bathroom!  I could only manage about an inch at a time. There was gravel in the parking lot and you could see the path were I drug my foot behind me to the bathroom and back.  My poor travel companions had to walk on either side of me to give me support.  It was bleak and frustrating and I was so dang mad.  This is where I got the first look at my knee and it was gross.  I had such a hard time taking the first step every single time I got out of the van.  I may or may not have said some version of "This first step is a doozie" at least 5,488 times.  It just felt like bones might pop out of my shin or the side of my knee with the first little bit of pressure on my knee. 

And of course, because I am me...I was also worried about how I would get up to the third floor apartment we were staying at, how would I manage on a plane, how would I get my crazy dog home, what if I need surgery, UGH, UGH, UGH!!!   I tried to shut down my brain and enjoy the moment.  

Next stop!  Glaciers! 

I stayed in the car for this one too because there were stairs and I was holding on by a thread.

I did get this shot of Brett setting up his drone to fly.  More on that later! 

Esra found amazing parking every place we went and I this was my view of the glacier bay from the car.  Isn't the change in sky so ominous?  It was freezing and windy at our final stop of the day.  

These are icebergs headed out to sea. 

It was about 2 pm when we left the glaciers and we had a five hour drive to the summer house where we were staying for the evening.  I tried to elevate my foot, took more Aleve and prayed. 

We finally arrived!  Hooray!  Get me out of this van!  

This was the most brutal walk of the day.  I had to get up this walkway and into that house!  I was sweaty and nauseous and really wanted to just have a good hard cry.  Esra's beautiful mother was waiting on us with a comfy chair, ice pack, codeine and kindness.  I love her so.  

She prepared an amazing meal of grilled fish and vegetables that was so delicious.  She also made traditional Icelandic pancakes with coffee for dessert.  She spoiled us.  

While she was grilling, Brett set up his drone to take a few shots of this beautiful home in the country.  Sadly, his drone went haywire and took off over the ledge behind the house.  Rut-Roh!  They spent a couple of hours combing the mountainside with no luck.  It was gone!  Camera and all.  So, so disappointing that we lost the footage from the day.  Broken knee - missing drone - COME ON, ICELAND!  

I wish I had more pictures of the summer house because it really was gorgeous!  So pretty!  There was a hot tub on the back deck.  This is where Esra and his family spend quality time together.  I could get used to this! 

We packed a ton into Day 3 in Iceland!  With the power of codeine and complete exhaustion from this day, I slept like a rock!  More to come....

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.....