Lights, Camera, Action!

 As you know, our first night of aurora chasing had its 'not to be repeated' excitements!

Undaunted, Sue, Leslie, and I headed out on Monday evening, seeing clear skies, cold temps, and good possibilities for aurora.  Jeanne kept the home fires burning back at the lodge, viewing aurora from there.

We made sure we had gear, sleeping bags, cell phones, and our wits about us.

We drove north on the Elliot Highway.  Yes, street signs do give you a flavor of just where you are at the moment.

 The Elliot Hwy heads north of Fairbanks,  and connects to the Dalton Hwy at about mile 83.  400 miles more of gravel road on the 'haul road'  takes you to Prudhoe Bay, and the Arctic Ocean.
We only went about 30 miles north, sobered by the sign that said:  Next services 138 miles.  Really.
Parked the car.  Waited.  And the show began!

 What we saw were whitish clouds, slightly green, but this is what the camera recorded.  Yes, that Ursa Major, the Big Dipper.  Is that not cool!?

We drove to several spots, finally landing at Wickersham Dome, (the destination of our first night,             never reached!)

For these photos, I set up the camera on the little tripod Earla gave me, set it to F2.8, ISO 1600, 15sec shutter, and just snapped away.  Hey, the details are important, you never know when you may need this information.  I had only learned these settings that morning in the lodge, from a sweet young man from Seattle, whose aurora photos would knock your socks off.  And that's not a small thing in Alaska, to have your socks knocked off!

 The sky was constantly changing.

 From Northern Lights Centre:

WHAT ARE NORTHERN LIGHTS?

The bright dancing lights of the aurora are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere. The lights are seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres. They are known as 'Aurora borealis' in the north and 'Aurora australis' in the south..
Auroral displays appear in many colours although pale green and pink are the most common. Shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and violet have been reported. The lights appear in many forms from patches or scattered clouds of light to streamers, arcs, rippling curtains or shooting rays that light up the sky with an eerie glow.

WHAT CAUSES THE NORTHERN LIGHTS?

The Northern Lights are actually the result of collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth's atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere. Variations in colour are due to the type of gas particles that are colliding. The most common auroral color, a pale yellowish-green, is produced by oxygen molecules located about 60 miles above the earth. Rare, all-red auroras are produced by high-altitude oxygen, at heights of up to 200 miles. Nitrogen produces blue or purplish-red aurora.

 And the show got better and better.......

We got in and out of the car, taking turns warming up, taking pictures.  Should we go now?  No, look, there it is again!  Your turn to get out.  And always, always, always, making sure a window was wide open, so we would have no repeat of our locked car episode.  At this site, we didn't even have cell phone coverage!

The colors really do dance across the sky, ripples of light dancing.  SkyDances........

There was a point at which we had to make ourselves go back to the lodge.  And found to our delight, the show wasn't over!
Ben, this photo is for you.  Although there was some blurring, as I had the zoom feature on, check out the reflection of the power plant and the lights in the Chena River below..........
And there's our winter pal Orion hanging out above............

 This photo was taken from the deck of our log cabin lodge, looking over the garage and main lodge.

 My last photo was about 2am, when I finally had to concede to fatigue and cold.

There are  those people who stay all the way through the movie credits, and are surprised sometimes with a added bit of movie from the producer.

For those of you who have read all the way through this blog,  our surprise is not an ending. 

 It's a new beginning.

Under the Aurora Borealis,

 in Alaska, 

Leslie  asked me to marry her, 

and I said yes (after I stopped crying).  

Put a ring on my finger.

How lucky am I!?!?

Martha has happily given us her blessing, and Facebook, with a life of its own, put a post on that Leslie was engaged (she changed her profile to 'engaged", not knowing Facebook's  procedures).  I would call each and every one of you, but I have very little voice, on day 9 of a URI that began on the plane to Seattle.  So here you go.  The word is out.  

A reasonably long engagement is anticipated.

And yes, good news, we are going to continue to blog.       

Written here on Hudson Drive, in our very own home, Auntie Em.  

There's no place like home, eh?           RJ

Hmmmmm, did I say that already?  Oh well...........  xo

Baby it's cold outside!

Many months ago, we cooked up a plan with our dear friends Sue and Jeanne to go to Alaska to try to see the Northern Lights. http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast  After a few years of minimal sun spot activity, which in turn affects the aurora, 2011/12 was projected to be a really big year. March would have been the best but we have a wedding to help tend to in March so that was out! 


Somehow Thanksgiving seemed possible. The idea of leaving home 36 hours after arriving home after 3 months on the road...well denial isn't just a river in Egypt. So off we went. 


The week we were in Borrego Springs, it was -40 F in Fairbanks. When we landed here it was a balmy -27. I thought that being a Buffalonian who later lived in Wisconsin would have prepared me. Not so. It has not gotten above -6 the whole time we've been here. 


The day starts by layering: One or 2 pairs of long underwear depending on the day's activities, a pair of pants or snow pants, a sweater, a fleece top, a vest and a jacket, two pairs of socks, two pairs of gloves, a scarf or balaclava, and a hat, and hood for later.


We head over to the main lodge http://www.atasteofalaska.com/ for a huge homemade breakfast, hang around talking to Cory (age 26) who has taken over the business. His grandparents and parents have homesteaded here for many years. They are true life-long Alaskans. Mom and Dad have gold mined. Dad still does and then restores the land and establishes new wetlands. Moose live in the woods below the meadow. Cooper the 
German Shepard visits gurests every day for the dog treats stored on the counter. Debbie, Cody's mom, shows us her quilting room and projects in process. Cody's dad Dave rants about the US government and regulations....he's not afraid to state his opinion. Talking with Dave makes me understand how Sara Palin was elected govenor. I teased him about wearing a tinfoil hat to protect him from the microwaves he worries are being emitted from the cell tower near by. (Can't hurt, might help).


After the day's activites we return to our lodge for dinner  (peeling off all but 1 layer) and a game of cards or BananaGram. Then on 2 nights we set out to see the aurora - the first of which was covered in the last blog. Last night they were even more spectacular than the first and we managed to not lock ourselves out of the car. (Debbie did threaten to notify Trooper Rick that we were on the road again so he could keep an eye out for us.


Alaska is a magical and wondrous land. I loved the southeast when I visited years ago and Fairbanks is right up there on my list of "must returns."


Home tomorrow...for now.


LC posted at Fairbanks

Of course There's a Story........

Once upon a time.............
The four of us headed north from California to Fairbanks, Alaska, with hopes and prayers to experience the Aurora Borealis.  The forecast from the Geophysical Institute was good, showing a wide band of activity as far south as Anchorage.      http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast
Sue, Leslie and Renee drove from the lodge on Saturday evening, gassed up the Expedition, and drove north, as recommended to us. (Jeanne stayed back at the lodge, to watch the lights from her deck there.) We were prepared for the 25 mile drive. We were confident that at Wickersham Dome, at 3000 feet, we'd have our 'holy moments' of Northern Lights, a spiritual experience about which we would tell our grandchildren.
Seven miles north of Fairbanks, suddenly there were a state trooper's lights blazing at us, pulling us over.
You had not dimmed your high beams, Officer Roberts explained.
Oh, sorry, we realized why you were pulling us over the moment you put your lights on.
Where are you ladies headed?
We're headed north to Wickersham Dome to see the Aurora.
Are you?  Why are you driving all the way there?  They're right here.  Look up.
Unbelievable.  There were waves of green shimmering lights all over the sky. Everywhere.

Right there, and there, and there, pointed out  Ranger Roberts. We got some photos.
Amazed and laughing and exclaiming two piled out of the car, while he checked our IDs. Then he recommended we drive up a couple of  miles, pull over in any driveway off the road, and watch the lights right here.
Off we went.  Pulled over at Mile 10.  Jumped out.
In all the commotion and excitement, in trying to get clothes out and get dressed properly, and get the camera, the car doors and hatchback became locked.
With the car running. With us outside the car.

24 degrees below zero.
Leslie had no coat on. I had only liner gloves, not thick ones.  Sue had all appropriate clothing on, except they 'sucked' to quote her, and her fingers and toes had been numb in the car, before we were locked out..
Dark cold night, bright, shimmering aurora all over the sky.
Quick assessment:  This would be a 911 moment, Sue said.
One of us had a cell phone. (That would be Renee)
Ten minutes of explanation to the 911 operator that this was a real emergency, and her sorting out what we really needed, which was for the officer to come back so we could sit in his car, till she could send a tow company to open the car door.
OK, The officer's on his way, she said. Which tow truck company would you like?
Just send one, any one, I said.
No, no, you have to choose.  I'll start reading them to you.
Seriously?  Do you know I can hardly make my lips move to talk to you?
No, I have to read them.
She read the first name.  That one, I said. That one!
She patches me over to George.  What do you need, ma'am?
For you to save our lives by opening our locked car.....now......
Ok, we can be there in 30 minutes.  Great, I say.
I don't tell Leslie or Sue it will be 30 minutes.  Why worry them?

The next ten minutes out there were seriously the longest ten minutes of my life.  Breath-taking lights and breath-taking cold and acute awareness of our vulnerability.
We laughed and cursed, ran around, stamped feet, took photos, cursed more, Sue gave her lap blanket so Leslie could wrap up.
Ranger Rick arrived.  Opened his police car's back door and said get in.  He had an Air Force fellow riding along, who wants to be a trooper.
We were giddy with relief, probably seemed like we were drunk, actually, we were so goofy.  We assured him we hadn't been drinking.
Have you ever sat in the back seat of a police car?  They are really, really uncomfortable, hard metal, wheel well in the center to straddle.  I realize they're not made for a passenger's comfort, after all.

He talked on the radio about bad guys, let us photograph his car from the bad guy seat.

Then George and Randy arrived!  And we attempted to get out of the trooper's car.  Where's the door handle?  Sue exclaimed.   Duh...............Sue, with no previous experience in rear seats in police cars, learned quickly, of course,  'no handles' keep the bad guys in!
George and Randy had the car open in a minute.
Did you try using the key pad, they asked?  No, George, first of all, never had a car with a keypad. Second, the rental company didn't give us the number.  How much for your work?
65 dollars, Ma'am.  Done, I said, peeling off an unknown number of bills  in the dark with icy fingers!
He looked at the bills and seemed quite happy.  I don't actually know what we paid them.
 It doesn't matter.

The cast of characters!

Into the warm car, and finally taking the first deep breath in 30 minutes.
Should we head home now?
Hell, No!  After all this drama?  Keep driving north, please!  After all this, we are now official "Aurora Chasers".  Drive on!
We viewed lights at two others turn-outs, and finally drove home about 12:30 am.

The Big Dipper and the Aurora Borealis

The lights were still overhead, and it was hard to settle down, but finally by 2am, we were done in and tucked in.
Thank you, God and Goddess, Universe, Fate, Ranger Rick , George and Randy, for our safety and the story and our very own Christmas season light show!

RJ and LC

Bucket List: Aurora Borealis. Check!

11pm.  Minus 24 degrees.  North of Fairbanks, Alaska, about 17 miles.

Thank you.