Page 96 of Jace 4Ever
Gunnar laughed. “You? The Army Ranger?”
“Me. It’s a sheep’s head and I’m supposed to eat it? No. Nope. No way.” I tapped my spoon in the bowl. “This is as sheepy as I want.”
Jace chuckled and we finished up the meal with a lot of teasing and chit chat. It was just about six at night that we finally left.
The hotel was only about half an hour away, but I wanted to get settled and I didn’t want to hike out there until the sun was almost set. Northern Lights were one of my favorite things I missed about Iceland and I wanted to make them amazing for Jace.
The hotel wasn’t world-class like the room in Reykjavik, not by a long shot, but he loved it. It was clean and just what we needed for a good night’s sleep after our hike to the waterfall. A bed was a bed, and I was old enough to not want a quickie on the ground or the rocks.
The hotel had a small restaurant and while we weren’t really hungry, the dessert offerings looked amazing. We managed to spend some daylight hours there.
“I don’t understand…shouldn’t we be getting back to the city?” Jace asked.
“I want to show you the aurora, and this is a great place to do that. There’s a spot at the top of the waterfall that just has the most amazing views.”
“Oh, okay.” He grinned. “I love this place so much, Nelson. It’s ridiculously flat and yet has mountains and volcanos and the most amazing waterfalls. And I’ve only seen what? Less than ten percent. I want to do the Ring Road. Can we go north to the Arctic Circle?”
“Not this trip.” I laughed and grabbed his hand. “We’re going to be back here more often, I promise. I’ve missed this place and my family. I can’t imagine not coming back more often. I really can’t believe Gunnar is driving. I can’t believe I was gone that long. He was so little when I was here last time.”
“We have time to waste before we climb to the top of the waterfall?”
“Well, not really? If you want to see the falls from down below, anyway.”
“Oh, yes!”
It surprised me that he didn’t bounce in his seat and clap his hands. His happy response was all I needed, though, and I loved that he seemed so carefree now.
We walked to the falls hand in hand, the sun starting to set. A lot of the tourists were walking in the other direction, leaving for whatever they had planned for the night. The less people, the happier I was going to be.
Skogafoss was in a canyon, tucked back away, but not so far you couldn’t see it as you approached. The best part was that it was easy to walk nearly to the massive falls. Jace was quiet as we walked closer and closer, his eyes going up and up and watching the water thunder over the rocks above and plunging down almost two hundred feet.
“As delicate and welcoming and pretty Seljalandfoss is,” I said, “Skogafoss has nothing but raw power. There is nothing quiet and charming about it.”
“It’s gorgeous.” His words were almost drowned out by the roar of the water.
“The only one that impresses me more is Dettifoss. Which we won’t be able to get to on this trip. But this”—I pointed up to the cliff that the water dropped off—“is the edge of the ancient coastline. Then the icecaps happened and we’re standing on the new coast.”
“There’s a rainbow…”
“There’s always a rainbow here when the sun is out. There’s just so much spray, the falls can’t help it. Mom used to bring us here too. But she never took us to the top.”
“How long until sunset?”
“Just about long enough to walk up the steps.” I pointed back the way we had come. “Three hundred seventy of them. You ready? We can take our time and make it just at sunset.”
“Perfect,” Jace said.
The climb was long and not easy. I had planned in enough to time so we weren’t rushing, but we did have to keep moving. Still, it was a nice hike to the top. There were dozens of kinds of seabirds and most everyone was coming back down. I really hoped we’d be alone up there.
Finally, we reached the top and were able to walk out onto the rocks that were a viewing platform.
Jace hauled in a breath and looked back at the stairs. “Well, that was a hell of a hike. I think I burned off all that lamb soup.”
“The three bowls of it you packed away?”
“I’m a growing boy.”
Chuckling, I grabbed his hand and led him over to the rocks where we could sit and watch the last of the sun. “We’re just in time. Just a few minutes until sunset, and then we can see the auroras.”
