Simply Stunning Aurora on our Alaska Trip

Simply stunning

    I thought we had seen a good aurora the other night. We had. She danced and played and her stage was right in front of us.  She showed the stars and then hid them.  She was active and colorful.  Then tonight came.  We  got out late; almost 2:00 and it was -2 degrees.  It was clear and crisp.  It was freezing, keep the car running weather.  The stars were out.  Then she started her show.  The other night was awesome, exciting; tonight was spectacular and her moves for the next one and a half hours was nothing short of spectacular, awe-inspiring, God-given beauty.  It was the aurora of my dreams.   She was huge, as she played first down near the horizon, (where she lived the other night); then she grew and split and stretched clear across the sky, overhead and towards the horizon in a large arc and then another one inside and beside it.   She moved quickly and then she split into another band and danced, hopping up and down like a seismic counter; quick as we could proclaim our sight.  She was colorful, greens and yellows and reds and she danced….danced, hopping quickly, colorfully.  Dancing was my wish for her and she performed quickly in rapid fire succession as she continued her stately march across the sky in another arc.  She was bright, then brighter, shooting up at times, then down, fading and reappearing in a new area of dark sky.  She formed a tight long band and would stretch and bend, shoot up, then shorten and disappear as quickly as she formed.   She appeared beside us in a large wide white column, got wider and stretched across the sky overhead and hung out, just enveloping us in a smattering of light eventually forming a large upheaved tornado from horizon to horizon directly overhead.  This veiled band of light stayed with us for the longest time, we eventually drove home in it.  Our veil of light, our crown of luminescent green, our dancing band; all this stayed with us as we reveled in a show greater and larger than the other night, wondering how many other received this gift.  We wondered how could anyone sleep thru this sky and we thanked the Lord for such a deliverance.   It was simply stunning.

Aurora, Awesome, ‘Auring’…..

Auring

    She was giddy with excitement.  Our trip was consummated this morning.

    We had come to Alaska to see the aurora and she performed her magic early this morning with a fine display of dancing, changing rapidly to shooting up, with colors of green, red and blue.

     It was our third night of aurora, the first night my Dad saw it first; a fine line of aurora, bright against the hazy moisture laden sky.  It moved quickly this night as well.  Our next night was mild.  It was there, yet only one line moved and skirted around a little.

     Our third night it snowed, so we were given a reprieve from our early morning excursions and slept in.   Our fourth night was too hazy  & cloudy and we reluctantly gave up after forty five minutes.  Tonight, or rather early this AM, my mother asked ‘Auring’ to show herself.  ‘Auring’, is her nickname for the aurora borealis.  A term of endearment I suppose.  Later convinced this is why ‘Auring’ showed up; the aurora’s display was magical, first a long thin line, then it split and grew and doubled and came up from below and danced and came so close to us my mother almost reached out to touch it, we were both giving our commentary on what she was doing next as she moved over, danced and changed colors as rapidly as we could talk.  She got wide, then skinny, shot up and then down, did everything she could to make us laugh and smile as she played around in the atmosphere.  Forty five minutes of changing, drifting off, then getting bright again; we were richly rewarded with a sight we had asked for.  She played with the stars as she made them twinkle and wink, disappear and suddenly shine bright.  As if playing with all her glory, the stars a heavenly backdrop to showcase.  ‘Auring’ was magical tonight as she took her bow and started drifting further into the background of clouds in a graceful retreat.  Ah, yes, our aurora made us happy to see the wonders of the world play right in front of us.  My mother was giddy with excitement on our short drive back to our Alaskan log cabin we had rented in the snow surrounded by Sitka spruce and Birch trees.  She described the aurora we had just seen and it was magical all over again…..life is good in Alaska this morning and our trip was richly rewarded.

    Thank you ‘Auring’, my mother quiet now as I see her pray and remind me to thank the heavens for this piece of heaven given us here on earth.  Amen.