Few are similar first time.

The Aurora forecast is a 4/9, the highest it's been all week. We stayed in the Myvatn region last night, considered the Aurora Borealis capital of Iceland - but not in a blizzard.

The snow continued all night and into the day. The night's black out became the day's white out. After a breakfast of smoked lamb, egg, peppers, and black charred bread, I headed out into it.

When traveling in Iceland in a blizzard on Easter, be sure you have plenty of gas. Many gas stations will be closed, so you will have to rely on your American credit card with a PIN which doesn't exist. And no, your bank card is not a fitting substitute. There are many charming, picturesque, mountainside churches that will be open. By open, I mean their doors are unlocked. But please don't bother trying to find out when or even if they are having services. They are utterly empty and there are no signs.

We emerged out of the east central storm today in Akureryri once again. I was having Jennifer take videos of the intense white out conditions as we came down the steep fjordside roads. It was still my time to drive. Drifts along the railing were up to the middle of her doors or higher.

Easter holidays are apparently the time for eating, as restaurants were all still open, and we found a charming cafe with plenty of hot pumpkin soup. We also stopped back in Glaumbaer at the turf house cafe, which was also open. Here, they had a variety of traditional icelandic cakes, dainty china, and an upstairs exhibit on 300 years of coffee in Iceland. I opted for my first tea today, and was highly amused to be served from a selection of Celestial Seasonings Teas - Hello Colorado! Little did our hostess imagine I had been in that very factory. The Victorian Earl Gray was delightful, and I also got a cream and rhubarb jam filled pancake, which we would call more like a crepe. It was the most traditional offering, and I had just been reading in my book where the hero Bjartur, was serving pancakes at his late wife's funeral.

The sun had come out here, the little chapel was open, and I took a moment to explore. All the trap doors leading up to the bells were open, so I examined the views from the top, as well as the hymnals below. The church is actually famous for being the place where Snorri Porfinnsson, the first European born in North America (in the year 1004), is buried. Snorri's mother, Gudridur Porbjarnardottir, was a celebrated Icelandic explorer. Statue of mother and son are at the entrance to the church/cemetery.

We found exactly one supermarket open all day, and there I purchased a small Icelandic easter egg. My fortune, mysterious as promised, translates to: Few are similar first time.Read more