Glacier bay and Diamond Beach

 We are shocked to get to our next farm stay and find out that the

reception is in a restaurant/brewery that is mentioned in the Rick Steve’s book as a place to eat.  So, we make reservations to eat there tonight instead of return to Hofn and make friends with the farm cat that looks like an Artic Fox. 

We have a view of the Vatnajokull glacier from our room and from the farm, but there is a lot of fox and mist in the south and it’s not going away for the rest of our time in Iceland.  So, we’re going to have

 to put up with rainy days coming up and unclear views of amazing things all around us.  We have a great dinner that night and John has his best beer of the trip that is a stout that the owner’s son in law makes at his

house….of course.  The skyr is dessert with blueberries and a graham cracker crust kind of thing and it’s amazing.  The next morning, I realize that I have left my smartwatch, fitbit thing at the pools in Hofn and decide that I’m not making the trip back

to get it.  It’s done and I tell them to give it to someone who will appreciate it.  We’re up and at em early for our 50 minute drive to our Glacier Bay boat trip.  We get to spend some time seeing the washed out bridge that an eruption several years

    ago melted the glacier causing a flood.  We head out to Diamond Beach to see the glaciers that wash onto the black sand beach and sit there looking like diamonds.  It’s amazing to see this and go to the other side to see the icebergs floating in the bay.  We head to our boat and get moved up to the tour right

before ours which works out well because it looks like it’s going to start raining soon.  It’s an amphibious vehicle that comes across the beach, loads us and then drives into the bay with a RIB boat to clear icebergs away, check that the way is clear and fetch us up a couple

to hold.  I’m enjoying the hell out of this because it’s something that you can’t do anywhere else.  I told John that it would make our anniversary more memorable.  Oscar is angry because he can’t understand the tour guide very well and

we won’t tell him what was said until we hear the whole thing.  He’s pouting and annoying and I’m done with it.  I tell John to leave him alone and we enjoy the boat ride without addressing this until we get back in the car.  I guess I’ve given up on the idea that we need to be nice to each other every day now because we’ve reached a maximum density of togetherness I think. 

The Italians on the boat have thrown the first iceberg back into the water and Oscar looks like he's going to cry.  The tour guide fetching us another iceberg and comparing Oscar's eyes to the beautiful blue in big bergs bring him around a little and he smiles for our family pictures and enjoys holding the 

iceberg.  We ask if we can taste it and the guide breaks off pieces for us to eat.  So, we get eat 1000 year old ice. He says that they use it at parties in Iceland to keep their drinks cold, but have less water because it doesn't melt as fast as other water.  So, the day is saved from bad moods and such.