The Northmen Vacation: Day 5

Today was another late start, but it didn’t really matter because our goal was seeing the Northern Lights. We found a map that showed cloud coverage over Iceland and decided to head north to the coast. But before we left, we stopped at BakaBaka bakery to sample their goods. We tried a variety of sweet and savory items from ham and cheese croissants to cardamom cinnamon rolls to apple crumble strudels to tomato basil rolls. Most of the food was good, although I was less sold on the cardamom cinnamon rolls.

We made the long trek to Hvammstangi, a small village on the Vatnsnes peninsula. Unfortunately, the lights of the village were too bright to see the sky properly, so we headed north along a desolate road. The sky was clear above us, but there were clouds lower down along the horizon. Around 6:00 p.m., my wife claimed she saw something over the giant dirt mound to our right. We stopped and waited, but whatever was happening was happening very low in the sky where the cloud coverage was. There were a few streaky white things, but no giant color ribbons like you usually see in photographs.

My wife still claims that what we saw was the Northern Lights, but I think we saw the Northern Clouds instead. I’m calling them the Faux Lights. I was very disappointed as this seems to be our only chance to see the Northern Lights. The weather is calling for rain and clouds all week, which sucks. After the Northern Bust, we drove back in the pitch blackness, chomping on the leftover pastries from breakfast.