Alaska Part 3--Aurora Borealis

"Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious."--Stephen Hawking

Seeing the Northern Lights aka Aurora Borealis has been on my bucket list ever since I saw them in a documentary in middle school. I knew my chance was fast approaching as I had recently booked a light to see my best friend, Sarah, in Alaska.

There is a website where you can check the intensity of the Northern Lights each night on a scale out of 10. We saw the forecast for the entire week and knew there was only one good chance of seeing them. That night they were going to be a 5 out of 10. Here's the website if you're interested! http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast

Sarah lives in Fairbanks, which is quite a large city, but not anything like what comes to mind when you think big city. Alaska's population is very sparse. They have lots of people, but everyone is so spread out and environmentally friendly that it is hard to tell that you're in a very large city. There is very little light pollution so spotting the lights when they are out is not too difficult.

We drove to a spot away from all the homes and the school on a little side road where there was a nice clearing and no trees to block out view of the sky. We were one of two cars there and both of us were intent on getting some great photography shots! We had some difficulty in setting my camera on the correct shutter speed and aperture, but after some fiddling and trial and error we were able to get some great shots. They aren't professional by any means, but I'm proud of them.

In every photo or documentary the lights always seemed to burst out of the sky and were so vibrant, however they seem to be dull in color until I edited them in my computer. I'm guessing the location was the reason for this.

Fairbanks isn't the only place to see the Northern Lights. The farther north you go the more likely you are to see more vibrant colors and the lights more often. Norway is well-known for Aurora adventure tours. In addition, any location near to the Arctic Circle will provide lots and lots of opportunities! The winter is also a much better time to go see them.

If you have the chance, definitely take the opportunity to see the Aurora Borealis. There really is nothing quite like it anywhere else on earth.

 "You cannot rob me of free nature's grace, you cannot shut the windows of the sky through which Aurora shows her brightening face. " --James Thomson

I walked to an Irish island... No big deal

"Friendship is held to be the severest test of character. It is easy, we think, to be loyal to a family and clan, who blood is in our veins." --Charles Alexander Eastman

The second half of my trip to Ireland I stayed with a good friend, Lindsey, who I have known since Kindergarten. It's sad to say that we had not seen each other in years, but I was extremely excited to catch up with her and just enjoy a few days exploring Ireland with her. She works as an Au Pair in Skerries, which is a very small beach town outside of Dublin. After making sure Kelsey got on the right bus to her airport I set out for Skerries. The only problem was finding the correct bus station. To give whoever is reading this a mental image of what I was carrying around the following picture should be good enough.

 I lugged all 30 pounds of this everywhere I went.

There are about 5 bus stops in Balbriggin where I searched for the bus station. I walked to one end of the city following someone's directions, while getting looks something akin to "Why in the world is there a tourist in Balbriggin of all places?" This look also followed me to Skerries. Meanwhile, the bus station I needed was directly on the other side of town... 2 miles away. Off I went albeit slightly perturbed.

I managed to get to Skerries in one piece and even found the street and place where I was meeting Lindsey on the first try. Everyone who knows me and my amazing lack of directional skills will know this was a feat worthy of an award. However, I had gotten there 4 hours before Lindsey was scheduled to meet me. I walked around getting odd looks and explored. Then I found what might possibly be the most fun beach in Ireland.

One of the coolest things about it was that in Ireland low tide really means LOW tide. There were a series of islands about half a mile off shore when the tide is in, but when it's out it's possible to walk to them. So I set off for one of them! It is such a weird feeling to walk to an island when something like that just isn't possible back home. The whole time I felt like I shouldn't be out that far, especially since no one else even bothered to walk there either. The picture should also be a good indication of how far from shore I was!

I must have looked nuts because I bent down every few seconds and almost fell each time I did it since I was slightly top heavy from my backpack and I really didn't want to fall in the random puddles. For those who don't know, I have an obsession with macro photography. I really liked the random creatures and plants I kept finding because of their textures and positioning so I tried to take as many creative ones as I could. I'll give you guys a taste of it. I am by no means amazing, but I really enjoy it.

I also crawled all over some very slippery rocks and managed to neither wound myself or fall. This should also be considered award worthy. Here's some of what I saw that day. I was amazed by the colors. It was just too gorgeous for words.

After trekking all day I finally met up with Lindsey! We went to a really cool pub and then called it a night. See part 2 for the rest of that trip!

"Our memories of the ocean will linger on, long after our footprints in the sand are gone." --Anonymous