Iceland: Travel Day, Kidka, & Sour Cream Doritos

On our way out of Akureyri, we shot a picture of the Jón Gunnar Árnason’s metal sculpture titled “Sigling” (Sailing). Árnason’s metal sculptures have become synonymous with their locations. Another famous one in Reykjavík is called Sun Voyager.

We had a lot of ground to cover during this day in order to get to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. Altogether this leg took about eight hours, and we expected to be in the camper van through the vast majority of it. I don’t know why I was so obsessed with getting to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. All the travel websites and books sang its praises so we prioritized it over seeing the sights along this portion of the road.

Along the way, we stopped at a gas station where I found more licorice. This variety featured a black cat and was named Katjes Poter. Honestly, the licorice looked like cat turds to me, but they were actually cat paws. The brand hails from Denmark. We didn’t purchase it as we still had tons of pirate-themed licorice. Later I found Katjes Poter at Home Goods right here in Central Kentucky!

We decided to make a brief detour to visit Kidka Wool Factory Shop in Hvammstangi. Kidka makes quality Icelandic wool products. Before our trip, we researched the best places to purchase sweaters, scarves, hats, etc. The dirty little secret is that many of big brands in Iceland like Icewear don’t even make the woolen goods in Iceland. In fact, Icewear manufactures their wool apparel in China, and the company does not even use Icelandic wool. Both Kidka and Álafoss (where we bought our sweaters) produce handmade knitted items with Icelandic wool. We picked up another woolen cap and some earbands (headbands).

After a very long day of driving, we stopped in the village of Búðardalur for the night. This small town offers a very neat and tidy campground near the fjord, Hvammsfjörður. By this point of our journey, the summer campgrounds had all closed by September 15th, and the fall/winter campgrounds remained. The changeover happened while we stayed in Akureyri, and we noticed fewer tourists on the road. A few other camper vans joined us at the campground.

We walked around the grounds and down to the fjord. We noticed a sign for things to do in Dalir, the name for the region. The quiet streets stretched out in front of us, and I wondered what people’s lives were like. We saw a school that looked nicely-appointed. We did not see anybody anywhere until we walked into a small market across the street. There I found “Sour Cream” Doritos. I also found “Pizza” Doritos, but I purchased the sour cream variety. Back at the camper van, I sampled the Doritos only to realize they are just “Cool Ranch” Doritos by another name. I was so disappointed! Oh well, they tasted good with a glass of box wine!

We made dinner in the camper van and turned in for the night. The next day we would begin exploring the Snæfellsnes Peninsula.