The long drive and the beauty of the unexpected

I picked up my rental and hit the road on my 6-hour drive to Höfn so that I would be nearby to my ice cave tour. Of course the ride took longer because I decided to stop off at the Halsanefshellir basalt cave and black sand beach, as well as Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon. My stops were short at each place, partly because the ice lagoon and accompanying Diamond Beach were underwhelming with not much ice washed up on the beach and the fact that there were over 60mph winds battering me while I tried to snap a few shots did not help either.

When I finally reached my guesthouse I decided to check in with the ice tour group to find out if the tour was still on. Of course after all the hours spent driving to the south east coast the tour was cancelled because the cave was flooded after a few days of heavy rain. Tired and grumpy, I decided to turn in for the night after having a meal at the nearby diner.

A few hours later I heard a great commotion outside my room. Out of nowhere, the northern lights were cresting the nearby mountain right outside my room. Everyone was outside my room excitedly watching this amazing and unexpected show. At first, the lights were just a dull green. Over time they grew to a more vivid green easily seen by the naked eye. As they stretched across the sky they started to dance and hues of purple started splitting from the green. For over an hour we all sat outside our rooms as we watched the brilliant display. It was such an amazing show that one of the couple promptly cancelled their Northern Lights tour that was planned for the next night.