Ashes in the south, snow in the north

The day we arrived in Reykjavik (May 21st), the Grimsvotn volcano erupted. Definitely not something we had expected! The airport shut down and major roads were closed off.

Despite all that, the following day, Yoshi and I took off on a road trip around the Ring Road. My friend Oscar, who we are staying with, founded a volunteer organization called SEEDS and we joined one of the groups. The plan was to drive to Seydiofjordur in the east with seven volunteers on Sunday, spend a night there, and the next day Yoshi and I were to drive the mini van back to Reykjavik. But things don't always go as planned. We were hit by an unexpected snow storm and couldn't make it to Seydisfjordur. We were stuck in a town called Egilsstaoir for two days but the time we got to spend time with the volunteers was incredible. We worked at Skriðuklaustur, the mansion where well-known Icelandic writer Gunnar Gunnarson once lived and enjoyed every moment of it.

By Tuesday, the weather had improved so we decided to drive back to Reykjavik. We said goodbye to the volunteers and left around 10am. But the weather in Iceland is very unpredictable. The locals say, "If the weather is bad, wait five minutes." It's about 430 miles from Egilsstaoir to Reykjavik. Since we had taken the northern route on the way to Egilsstaoir, we wanted to take the southern route back but the road was closed due to volcanic ashes. We took the same northern route back, but the snow had completely changed the landscape and it was such a beautiful drive.

But the first few hours was scary. The roads were icy and slippery and  we couldn't see more than 15 feet ahead of us. The snow was falling sideways and the wind was blowing at 45 miles per second. It took us 90 minutes to drive 10 miles. On one side of the road was a cliff and there were no rails to protect us. There was no way for us to stop or turn around so we just had to keep going. It was by far the scariest drive I had ever experienced.

But thanks to Yoshi's impressive driving, we safely made our way out of the snow storm. There was a small gas station on the side of the road so we stopped there, made some hot tea, and waited for the wind to calm down. When we finally made it back to Reykjavik, it was past midnight. We had driven for 14 hours. I drove for about 2 hours and Yoshi drove the rest of the way. Thanks Yoshi! You were amazing.

Icy roads

Snow-covered mountains

Godafoss waterfall

The cabin we stayed at for two nights

Skriðuklaustur -- where we volunteered

The volunteers painting wooden toys

Newly painted toys

Solveig disassembling and painting a cabinet

The drive back -- Yoshi making hot tea

It was freezing!

Just beautiful!