Alaska

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September 29th 2006

Published: December 1st 2006

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Northern Lights

Aurora Borelis

Welcome to Alaska, land of the Aurora Borelis

A few flights later and a lot of waiting in airports, i arrive in Fairbanks.

Mission Alaska

Mission Target: Aurora Borelis (Northern Lights)

Objective: Successfully photograph the phenomenon known as Aurora Borelis

So after a few rainy days in Vancouver I make my way across.
Fairbanks, the people here seem to be friendly and go out of their way to help you. Sometimes you forget your actually in the United States, since this one ain't so united.

Day one was a night in a luxury hotel, followed the next day by a charter flight accross the Artic Circle to a small remote town called Bettles.
This town is about an hours flight north of Fairbanks and sits right below the lights. Unfortunately the weather could have been better and made it hard to see the lights. After sleeping through my alarm i woke at around 2:30 am and walked outside to a glowing ribbon like light through the clouds. My first attempt and i knew i had failed, so i made my way back inside to a warm cabin to sooth my cold purple feet (barefoot bushman?)

The bent tree

Thought i'd take a photo of this random tree in Fairbanks, down the road from where i was staying.

The next day the weather was still uneasy and held up our flight back. I mean a remote town in the middle of nowhere and your questioning your 15 ft long charter plane, why should i be nervous......!?

Back in Fairbanks after arriving safely and dropping off our hunter friends who had been camping in the wilderness for 9 days, I eventually find my accommodation, Billie's Backpackers. This place is like a warm little home and Billie is the nicest old lady, even if she did confiscate my alcohol...

That afternoon the sky suddenly cleared up which fueled my urge to stay awake and wait for the lights to come out. At around midnight we could see a dim green light in the distance. Stupidly i thought thats all it was and boy i was wrong. An hour later these lights were getting increasingly stronger and brighter until they finally literally danced above us. To put this into words is impossible, but just a couple to give you an idea i'd say intense and incredible.

These lights wowed me for hours in the bitter cold, but i didn't care. Mission successfull, and something i'm never going

Ice cream anyone?

Now this deserves a photo! An ice cream store in the middle of Alaska!?...snow, ice, bitter cold, and yes people do buy them at 6pm when it's below zero. No need to worry bout it melting huh?

to forget...EVER!

The remainder of my time there i went to the North Pole (the town not the actual tip of the earth) and went past the Santa Claus house. This whole town is based on christmas and i'm not kidding. With street names like Rudolph Lane, you get the idea. Out the front of every house is a painted candy cane and the letterbox matches! Unfortunately it was a bus ride and i didn't snap any photos but you get that.

That about wraps it up, next destination I head back to Canada and meet my new job.

Til then peace!

Dan.

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