Geysers

As we traveled from the National Park to our next stop, we saw these marshmallow like things all over the place in pink, green, and white.

In Iceland, when they harvest hay, they place it in these plastic bags to dry.  The weight decreases by about one-third before being gathered for winter.

The pink ones represent the pink ribbons and money earned from the sale of these is donated to the Cancer society for research.  I found that so cool.

 As we approached the parking area for viewing Geysirs,  I saw wonderful plumes rising off so as to be seen easily in the distance.

This is where the most famous Geysirs are found although you can see plumes all over the island.  Iceland has harnessed its geothermal energy and is able to provide all of its own power. 

Furthermore, much of the power is used to heat greenhouses to grow fruits and vegetables.  There is one set of  greenhouses where they raise tomatoes.  This company has set a restaurant in one green house and has tomato based dishes including tomato ice cream.  Apparently the Kardashians visited there, placed their reviews on social media and now its become famous.  

This Litli Geysir is a small geysir that has not begun spurting in the air.  It sits there bubbling much like a boiling pot.

This is the first one people come across as they enter the area.  There are four of them, spread out all across the area. 

All the gyesirs have labels so you know which one is which.  There are small streams of water streaming down the hill with signs posted warning visitors the water is between 80 and 100 C.

 This is a quick picture of the oldest recorded Geysir.  It only erupts when there is volcanic activity so right now it is rather quiet but if one of the volcanoes erupts as expected, it will become active again.

Geysir is its name and from all the historical records, it has been around since 1294 when it appeared after an erruption.  In fact, it appears to be the oldest Geysir still active.

It quietly bubbles as hot steam flows off it.  Visitors can get quite close to it.  Some of the Geysirs have coins thrown in them even though there are signs posted telling people not to do that.

This is a wonderful picture of Strokkur, the active geysir.  The word Geysir originates from the Icelandic verb meaning to erupt.  This erupts every few minutes, sometimes higher, sometimes lower. 

Its top height is around 20 meters.  As you can see it shoots up beautifully. As it comes down, the wind blows some of the drops towards the left of the photo and people get wet. 

I stood there several minutes waiting for it to erupt.  A couple times, it erupted but it was more like a burp than a real gusher. 

So impressive.
Here is a second shot from a different view so you can see how it looks.  When every it erupted, people made comment.  What you don't see behind me is the hotel, restaurant, gas station, and filled parking lot.

People have the right of way to cross so traffic stops cold.  Once people begin crossing it can be one or two minutes before traffic starts again.

An of course, the final geysir found up at the very top of the group.  As it bubbled I thought of the line from Shakespeare "Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble."

A sulfur smell permeates the area from the geysers.  The smell is not obnoxious but quite noticeable. 

Since hot water is prevalent through out Iceland, most communities have a hot tub for everyone to relax in at the end of the day.  People discuss their days.  The tour guide said its a great way to learn Icelandic if you move there.  In addition, we passed on town with no cemeteries at all because hot water is just below the surface.

More information tomorrow.  I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Have a great day.