Zuri99

Tour through 100 yr old covered bridges. Enjoy the hundreds of arts and crafts boothes along with terrific home made goodies. Awesome place to go for a weekend to enjoy the fall leaves.

I spent 3 years living in Alaska. Fairbanks, Alaska to be exact. If you’ve never been and aren’t too familiar with the geography of that part of the US…where I lived was a mere HOUR from the Arctic Circle. Now THAT’s living in Alaska…lol. My then husband (now ex…long story) was active duty in the Air Force and stationed in Eielson, AFB.

Even though the winters were long, dark, and to say the least COLD the one thing that made it all worth while was experiencing Northern Lights. I’d sat through the mandatory “Arctic Survival Training” that all military spouses are required to take. Even though I was born and raised in Chicago, IL where we DEFINITELY know the meaning of the words “cold and winter”...Alaska cold…is a WHOLE new level!

I’d learned very little about northern lights other than the fact that it occurs in the winter. Which…is all but TWO months up there where I was. That was about it.

I remember seeing them for the very first time while I was driving home from a friends house. Our first winter there, October so it was pitch black outside except for the fading lights of the neighborhood I just left. I’m driving down the highway at about 60 mph when this bright green, gaseous…thing went shooting past my truck in the sky. It was neon green and pulsated as it zoomed past me.

It scared me so bad I had all I could do to keep on the road without ditching or flipping my vehicle. It took a few seconds to regain control so that I could pull off the side of the road safely. Thank heavens no one was around while I was skittering from left to right in the middle of highway…lol. I remember being told in one of the numerous orientation classes that it’s common for US airspace to be “invaded” by Russian military. All I could think was OMG…something NUCLEAR just happened!!!!!

After a frantic race home and 15 mins of my ex trying to calm me down enough to listen, I learned that northern lights actually MOVE. They come in a variety of colors from green to blue, white, red and in very rare occasions fuschia. The movement varies. I’ve seen beautiful light displays where it looks like someone took a giant paint brush with neon green paint and ran it across the sky letting it ooze down to the ground in the distance.

The best way to experience it..is for yourself. It’s worth putting up with the cold weather and the expense of the trip. Besides, Alaska is one of the most breathtaking places I’ve been to so far.

I read the book in 2000 and LOVED it. Needless to say I was really jazzed when they made the movie. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they did an outstanding job on the movie. Nothing worse than loving the book and being disappointed in the movie. LOVE, LOVE, LOVED both the book and the movie.