It’s not fair. I just spent time trekking to, and freezing in a cold, distant place. All this was to fulfill my bucket list dream to see the Northern Lights in Alaska. But now, what do I see in the news? The Aurora Borealis is currently being seen in 30 US states, depending on weather conditions. A strong solar storm is taking place, giving many states much further south the unusual chance to see some colorful skies. Sightings are possible even in California, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and Utah. In an Arizona News article (https://www.abc15.com/news/state/photos-northern-lights-visible-in-arizona-sunday-night) one Andrew Pescador happily shared his pics of sky colors near Flagstaff, and Deborah Burd shared hers of the skies over Payson. Hmmmmm, so happy for them…..(sort of).
Don’t get me wrong, my trip was very successful, and my Lights were beautiful (better than theirs, nah, nah, nah). But my Northern Lights sighting was not so conveniently close to home. And my travel north had some issues, as travel usually does.
Take the flying part of getting to a viewing spot to see the Aurora. Some of you airline folk understand the joys of the standby travel that I did. There is the exhausted gratefulness of finally achieving middle seat status on some flight (after a few tries of course). How quickly do those emotions change when you realize an ugly fact. You are trapped next to one passenger who should have purchased an extra seat (you all know what I mean). And the passenger on your other side talks non-stop in a conversation that can only be described as random neural firings of the brain. This is for-an-entire-endless-flight.
Then there was the weather- and by weather I mean the COLD. Forget that a waitress in Alaska sweetly chirped “It’s sweater weather!” when it got up to 30 degrees one day. It was sweater weather for me, all right, along with a few other layers.
Watching the skies outdoors at midnight in the proximity of the Arctic Circle means needing lots of those warm clothes. I had to wear stuff like long underwear, heavy socks, multiple tops and sweaters, a ski jacket, gloves, scarves and boots.
I also had hand warmers arranged in various other places on my body (not that they worked). Sorry, I am now too used to 70-and-sunny California weather, not Alaska cold. Call me bitter, but so much for Mr. Flagstaff stepping out of his house, maybe wearing his light jacket, to snap some Northern Lights pics for the newspaper. I had to work hard- and dress with more layers than an onion– to see MY Northern Lights. And let’s not forget trying to pack all that wintery stuff in suitcases that do not make the strength and endurance of a team of Sherpas necessary. There was no “traveling light” on this trip.
There was a final laugh- for any observers, not for me. As if the puffy down ski jacket did not make me look stylish enough (think Pillsbury Doughboy), there was also my head covering called a balaclava. A balaclava covers the head and most of the face- toasty and practical for that balmy below zero weather. But a balaclava is not chic by any stretch of even the most generous imagination. So my finished stylish fashion look for viewing the Northern Lights could only be dubbed as “bandit Pillsbury Doughboy.” Don’t search for this look in Vogue any time soon.
I realized later that I was very fortunate to not be walking past any Alaska bank dressed in my bandit Pillsbury Doughboy garb. Of course, I would have stayed warm, all the way to jail after I’d been arrested. I do not even want to imagine dressing like this in an airport.
It’s just not fair, this solar storm that is sending the Aurora further south. But I do hope lots more people see some Northern Lights in new places- even in the wimpiest way possible. The Northern Lights ARE truly worth seeing.
(Even though my difficult Alaska Northern Lights viewing was much better, nah, nah, nah…)
