It was foggy when we got up (no alarm today), and there were distant horses out the window.  It was still foggy when we got to Stokksnes, which is sort of the unofficial southern tip of the Eastfjords.  The mountains around Stokksnes are jagged and imposing, but we couldn’t see any of them.  So rather than admire them, we meandered over to a Viking village that had been constructed for some sort of TV show or movie (it never got made).  Seeing it up close, it was interesting to see a well-constructed building meant to look dilapidated.  There was a hotel at Stokksnes, Viking Cafe & Guesthouse, and Crystal wondered why we hadn’t just stayed there.  Justin couldn’t remember (maybe it was already sold out?), but we thought maybe the next time we could stay there, so we could see Stokksnes whenever the skies were clear. 

The next stop was a very brief one, at the Red Chair.  We’d spotted this “attraction” on Atlas Obscura, and put the exact coordinates in our itinerary (64.341736, -14.927766) so we could easily find it with Google Maps.  It was kind of random, obscure if you will, but at least it wasn’t fogged out.  Our next scheduled stop, Krossanesfjall, resembled Stokksnes - at least in the photos online.  Sadly, they resembled each other in pracice today; pretty much all of the coast, with one exception where we had maybe 5 minutes of sun, was fogged out.  But it wasn’t raining, and the coast seemed to have the “best” weather, so we said we’d take this weather if it meant we’d have good coastal weather this evening when we’d hopefully be seeing the puffins in Borgarfjarðarhöfn.

Our morning was going by much faster than expected, but we figured if we had an overstuffed itinerary, the weather being bad in some places was just a way to ensure we got to see everything.  We checked that we could have lunch early at Hafið bistro in Djúpivogur, and it was open for lunch before noon, so we decided to eat an early lunch.  Djúpivogur was a nice coastal town, and from our table we could see out over the harbour.  On the stereo they were playing Pink Floyd, which caught us a bit off guard.  Justin ate some salad at lunch, which Crystal commented on, to which he responded that he always eats salad when listening to Pink Floyd in Iceland.

After lunch we went up the Ring Road just a bit more, but then headed inland, away from the Eastfjords, on Road 939.  As we went inland and up in elevation it got progressively sunnier and the road turned from pavement to gravel.  We stopped briefly at a royal blue lake with green hills around.  [After the fact, looking at the map, the “lake” was likely a fjord, and we were probably stopped at Raudhafell mountain viewpoint.  But we aren’t 100% sure.]  We also stopped at a nice viewpoint up Road 939 where several cars were stopped, Hænubrekkufoss waterfall.

Ironically, the well-maintained gravel roads were arguably preferable to pavement, as Sue couldn’t give us any grief about center lines, side lines, etc.  We eventually got back on pavement on Road 95 as we headed up to a large lake.  We were in some sort of large valley, and there were trees and wildflowers everywhere.  The purple ones were especially nice, but we were never able to get photos of them whilst driving.  The area reminded us of Garner Valley, southeast of Idyllwild in Southern California.

We drove around the lake until we crossed a bridge and found the parking lot for Hengifoss.  Unlike yesterday, today we were supposed to go clockwise.  We started to go that direction until we immediately realized we’d screwed up what was clockwise and what was counterclockwise.  At that point we realized we’d screwed up yesterday, too.  Apparently there was no need to go counterclockwise yesterday, clockwise was just fine, and perhaps preferable.  The start of the hike had several sheep gates, but no sheep anywhere around.

It was 23 degrees today, and everyone had their shirts off.  We saw lots of people who had not seen the sun for 10 months.  Somehow every guy in Iceland seems to have a six pack - must be the Viking blood.  The hike uphill wasn’t too bad, even in the sun and the “heat.”  We stayed at the base of the falls for about 10-15 minutes, checking things out.  Hengifoss is famous for its horizontal red stripes, consisting of iron-rich clay trapped between lava flows.  They definitely are quite red, and were more red where the soil was wet, closest to the falls.  Ironically, on a rainy day, it might look the most red.  We had an uneventful walk back down to the parking lot.

From Hengifoss, we drove towards Seydisfjodur, and had our choice on which side of the lake to drive.  We chose the west side of the lake since we’d already been on the east side, and we liked the west side much better because there was no traffic and no constant speed limit changes.  We ended up in Egilsstaðir, which seemed to be a decent-sized town, with an airport and several high rise apartment buildings.  

To get to Seydisfjodur from Egilsstaðir we had to go up the side of a mountain ridge, go over the pass, and then descend into Seydisfjodur.  This descent was about the only road we were familiar with in Iceland, as it was in a famous scene in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, where the main character rides a skateboard down the road and uses rocks wrapped around his hands to help brake on the steep corners.  We stopped briefly at a couple of waterfalls above the town, and then made our way into Seydisfjodur via a car.

It was bright and sunny in Seydisfjodur, and we parked right near the Hotel Aldan, where Road 93 terminates.  We walked around briefly, then sat down at the cafe at the Hotel.  Crystal got an Irish Coffee and Justin got some cherry ice cream.  Whilst sitting there, Justin found out there was a specific spot on Google Maps called “Walter Mitty longboard viewpoint,” so we decided to stop there on our way out of town.  We got up there in a hurry, as while we were sitting at the cafe, we could see the fog approaching in real time.

We got to the viewpoint before the fog enveloped the town, and the views were absolutely spectacular.  We were the only ones there, and there was a small waterfall too.  The hills above the green valley reminded us of hills we saw all over Cape Town.  So far the weather this afternoon was infinitely better than the morning, and we hoped it would last for one last stop, at Borgarfjarðarhöfn, supposedly the best place in Iceland to see puffins.

To get to Borgarfjarðarhöfn we had to backtrack to Egilsstaðir, then turn north on Road 94.  We had this road basically all to ourselves, and we also had amazing views of the mountains to the east, illuminated by the early evening sun.  Like going to Seydisfjodur, we had to go up and over a mountain pass before descending into town.  At the mountain pass we had amazing views in every direction, but we didn’t stop because we didn’t want to assume that clear skies would last, and we wanted the clear skies more for the puffins than for this mountain pass.  Plus, we knew we’d be back at this pass soon enough, on the way out of town.

We drove through the town of Bakkagerði before getting to Borgarfjarðarhöfn (also referred to as Borgarfirði Eystri), where there was a parking lot with 15-20 cars.  This is about as far away as one can get from Reykjavik in Iceland, so between that and the time of day (19:00 on a Sunday), explains why the best spot for viewing puffins in Iceland was so relatively empty.  

As soon as we started walking up the stairs we knew that this was the best spot for seeing puffins.  They were everywhere, flying all around, fishing in the ocean, and wandering all over the green hillside by the marina.  There were stairs and raised footpaths on the hillside, and the puffins seemed to appreciate we were staying there and that they were safe where they were.  They were completely fine being just a couple meters away, just chilling while we all took pictures and videos.  Crystal saw one puffin approach a couple people whilst they were looking the other way, and took photos of the puffin right behind their back.  Later Crystal tracked them down and sent them the photo.

Eventually we just had to leave, as although we could have stayed there much longer, it was late and we had a good amount of driving still to do.  As we drove back towards the town, we could see the fog rolling in in real time.  We decided to grab dinner, as it was before 21:00 and we were pretty sure there wasn’t going to be a place to get lunch tomorrow.  We stopped at Já Sæll Grill and Bar, and we think we were perhaps the only tourists.  We think everyone else probably walked in from their homes down the street.  

We ordered our food (Bacon lamb burger for Justin, cheese lamb burger for Crystal) and drink (red wine for Crystal), and then Justin went outside to call the hotel.  We had in our notes that they had late check-in until 23:00, but we wanted to let them know we were on our way, and we’d likely be getting there shortly before 23:00.  This was a good idea, because the food took a long while to come out, as the restaurant was super busy and only 3 people were working there.  It reminded us of a local restaurant in Pahoa, where everyone knows everyone.

Once we got our food, we scarfed it down, paid quickly, and left, a little after 21:00.  It was now quite foggy in town, but we got above the clouds and Justin quickly took a handful of photos from the viewpoints on either side of the ridgeline.  We were listening to both versions of Immigrant Song (which had been in Crystal’s head all day), and then a bunch of Nine Inch Nails songs, trying to determine our favorite.  For most of the trip so far, we’d just had Justin’s iPhone on random, with almost 3300 songs on his phone.  Tonight was the first time Crystal was playing DJ.

We saw from the ridgeline that it was going to be foggy on the west side.  Soon enough, we were in the fog, and once we turned off Road 94 onto Road 944 (and then 925), we were traveling on isolated gravel roads that we weren’t familiar with.  This wouldn’t normally be a problem, as there were no cars, but there were sheep everywhere (including a mama and maybe 5-6 little ones).  We eventually got back to the Ring Road, which we hadn’t been on since just after lunch.  We got to the hotel, Hotel Stuðlagil, around 22:40, so just before the 23:00 check-in deadline.  To our surprise, Blood Sugar Sex Magik was playing at the front desk.  As soon as we got in our room and dropped our stuff, we immediately got back in the car and went next door to the gas station.  We were down to 1/4 of a tank and we were trying to keep the tank about 1/2 at all times.  Then we did our Duolingo, and at that point the day was officially over, and we could relax a bit.  We went to sleep right at midnight.