After a restless sleep, experiencing what’s called the “Midnight Sun”. The second day was upon us. One thing I learned very quickly, most tourists on this trip seem to sleep late. We were up around 6:30-7 am and there were maybe 5 others out and about. The weather was cold and foggy with a very lite rain. We quickly grabbed a bite to eat from the few supplies we were able to find the previous day from a local gas station. We packed up the car and started on our first full day in Iceland.

The first stop for the day, was at a church that sat above the campground. I had spotted it the night before but was too tired to find my way up. We found our way up and I got out to photograph the church along with the lupines that were in full bloom all around.

We were very fortunate as there were no others around the church while we were there. Only once we started the drive down did another car with tourists drive up.

Once we left Vik we started our journey down route 1. First stopping at a gas station to try and figure out how to use the pump. Luckily it was so much easier than what I had read online before the trip. Further down the road the landscape turned into lava rocks, then the lava rocks turned to a green color. We followed the road until we came across a parking area on the side of a road. We parked and started up the short path to a lookout platform and gazed upon the most surreal landscape I’ve ever seen. These moss covered lava rocks looked like a scene from some alien movie on another planet.

Back on the road we spotted a waterfall that sat off the road, a very large waterfall. As we got closer we noticed how few cars there were in the parking area for it. We decided to turn down the road and head towards the lot. Seeing a waterfall that was not packed with tourists was a very nice thing to see. This would be our first waterfall for the trip. After parking and getting my camera ready, I turned towards route 1 and noticed a large tour bus slowing down and starting to turn in. I grabbed my camera without my equipment to do long exposure photos, and I quickly walked towards the waterfall. As I got close enough for a decent shot, I turned to notice the tour bus unloading its passengers. Luckily it was a 5-10 minute walk from the parking lot to the waterfall so I had some time. I grabbed a few shots, turned and noticed 3 older Asian women speed walking, almost running down the trail. I knew my time there was up. I got back on the trail and started to the car.

Once back in the car, I looked at google maps to determine the next place to visit. I knew then these next spots were going to be crowded. The first stop, Fjallsárlón. One of the many glaciers. I pulled into the parking lot, paid for parking, and started down the trail.

This place was amazing, such beauty. It was also extremely windy here. I stood and gazed over the water, looking at the different sizes and shapes of the icebergs. The sounds coming from the bigger Icebergs were eerie, the cracking sound that seemed to echo was something I have never heard before. After spending some time here, I headed back to the car, to move just a little down the road to the next spot. Diamond Beach.

Diamond beach was something I was looking forward to seeing, this spot I didn’t mind the nearly full parking lot. I found a spot, parked and got out to start getting my camera ready, when another photographer parked next to us, told me there weren't many “diamonds” on the beach. I thanked him for the info, stood and looked around, contemplating if I should pay to park and go see for myself, or take his advice and move on. After a few minutes I decided to pay the nearly $10 fee, and started down the beach. As I got closer to the waters edge, I noticed the area with a large grouping of tourists. I started towards them when I spotted the first diamond. This other photographer was right, there were 5 “diamonds”, just 5. Five tiny pieces of ice on this black sand beach. I was gutted. This was not at all what I expected to see. After seeing the photos online, I arrived expecting the spot to look like all the other images on google maps. I took what photos I could before the other tourists started picking up these pieces and posing with them. It was time to move on to the next place.

After diamond beach, feeling defeated by the disappointment. The most spectacular thing happened. Driving past a large field with an abandoned building, we spotted a group of horses. I turned around and went back, turned around again to be facing the same direction I needed to be traveling. I found a spot fully off the road to park, and I got out…Got out to photograph these horses that were far away. As I approached the fence, the entire group of horses moved towards me. They got closer and closer and eventually close enough to pet.

After this amazing time spent with the horses, it was getting late. Time to start looking for a campground to spend the night. During the trip I also used the Atlas Obscura app. This app gave me places to see that weren’t on google maps. One of these spots was simply called “Red Chair”. Once I found the place and arrived, all I could do was laugh. What a random thing to see, a red chair bolted to some rocks. No sign, nothing. Just a chair.

After visiting the chair, we started towards the campground I had found before on google maps. Once we arrived, I was very happy to see it was smaller than the campground in Vik, very few other campers here. I found a nice secluded spot amongst the plants, and got everything setup. Our first full day in Iceland came to an end. What a day it was. So many new sights, many new experiences. Especially Icelandic chocolates. We headed to bed, excited to see what day 3 would bring us.