Like Hannibal crossing the Alps

Our acccomodation has won the award for most intensely lit room on our trip.  At 6:45 am, I finally gave up and wrapped my head in a dark t-shirt to block out the light.  After the only 2 hours of decent sleep for me, it was time to get up.  We dressed fairly quickly and headed out.  We could have had cereal and crackers with jam, but we went next door to the convenience store and got some skyr (Icelandic yogurt), coffee, and Carrie found a local delicacy that was surprisingly like an Idaho Spud™.We headed out of Olafsvik and into Snaefellsjoekull National Park.  On the way, we found another site of nesting arctic terns, and one was full enough of himself to take on the car.  It looped and dive-bombed and bumped the hood of the car at least 20 times.  We decided we would be nice and move on, since we were obviously distressing the bird.  We probably gave him bragging rights to the rest of his bird gang - "I tell you, it was 30 times as big as me, and I made it leave.  That's right, it was soooooo scared of me, that it ran off.We saw some Viking ruins in the park, though not impressive enough to elicit a hike.  There was a really cool beach where a Viking burial mound had been excavated.  It was nice to get out of the car and into the sun.  That's right, we had another sunny day (which did not help my sleep experience last #alt-night).  Looming in our view most of the day was the Snæfellsjökull glacier-covered stratovolcano.  More to come on this later.  (Interesting note:  This volcano was featured in Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" - it was the entry point to their expedition). "We hiked down to an awesome stone-covered beach, where an old fishing village used to be.  The village had a tradition of demonstrations of strength (Festivus for the rest of us), using 4 large rocks of increasing weight.  Carrie, Les, and I each made an attempt (Les, of course had to pick up the next sized one up from my rock).  Pat stood on the largest one in a declaration of triumph.  There were pieces of a ship strewn across the beach from a shipwreck many years ago.  We enjoyed being on the beach, even though it was crawling with the contents of 3 or 4 tour buses.Back in the road, we stopped at the park information center, and Carrie and Pat found a couple of Puffin books.  Les and I found a book on interesting foods in Iceland, including Puffin.  Carrie was not amused.  Back in the car, we drove to Arnarstapi, another fishing village.  There was a nice viewing platform providing great shots of their waterfall and a colony of seabirds.Back on the road, Carrie made a split-second decision to take a different road back to Olafsvik.  This one would take us close to the glacier.  Roads in Iceland are typically well-marked as to whether a four-wheel drive vehicle is required.  This one, however, should have been marked thus.  We did get some amazing pictures, and were super close to the glacier.  As we started our descent, we realized, we would actually be driving THROUGH the glacier.  There were paths cut through the snow and ice, and this was our road back.  There were more than a few tense moments, as I tried to decide if we could continue, or if we would have to retrace our steps for our safety (and the safety of the vehicle).  After a LONG ride, we did make it to relatively normal gravel roads.  We made it to tarmac, and I let out a sigh of relief.We decided to get a little snack, as we had been driving all through lunch time.  We are now unanimous that a key strategy in eating without financial peril in Iceland, is the hot dog stand.  On doing a little of reading, hot dogs are almost considered Iceland's national food.  They are unique, tasty, and relatively cheap.  After our snack, we went back to our rooms to rest.We had called ahead for dinner reservations earlier, to avoid a repeat of last night.  Carrie and I were stoked that this place actually had cider (not beer combined with fruit juice, that one restaurant had tried to pass off as cider).  There was a bit of a disagreement as to whether the buffalo burger (not buffalo meat, but referring to buffalo chicken) was a chicken sandwich.  I was vindicated that is was a beef burger topped with buffalo chicken and accoutrements.  This was Les's choice.  Carrie and I split a pizza and a burger - yum.  Pat had one of her standbys - Chicken salad - Kjúklingasalat (or cute Klingon salad - at least that's our rough way of pronouncing it).  Hers was nothing special, but "it's food."We're back at the rooms, working on importing pics and notes.  We're leaving earlier on the morning, so probably an earlier #alt-night for us.  Tomorrow, we head to Keflavik.  We're staying at a B&B close to the airport, since we leave the next day.  It's been a great trip, but I think we are all starting to mentally transition back.  Our cruise director, Carrie, has our plans for tomorrow, and who knows what it will hold.  I suspect the great weather likely won't hold, but who knows.