Fairbanks, Alaska
September 2022
September 2022
The northern Rocky Mountains (Alberta, Canada) from about 30,000 feet.
Rain storms in Chicago delayed my first flight a bit, but with a 3 hour layover in Anchorage, I met my connection without any problems. Arrived in Fairbanks around 5:00 pm AKDT (Alaska Daylight Time) which is 3 hours behind Chicago. Plenty of light to help me find my way to our rental cabin and WOW just WOW! Honestly I could live here. Spring Summer and Fall at least. ;)
These first pics are while landing at Anchorage. *below
Not sure which glacier we flew over but....there it is. Looks like a lunar landscape.
Fairbanks at 64.84° N, 147.72° W is absolutely beautiful this time of year. The temp this afternoon was around 60 °F and the yellow cedar and aspen are turning their bright yellow. Stunning.
These four pics of the winding, braided rivers are near Fairbanks. Took the pics from the plane as it was descending. The sun was coming out and it turned into a gorgeous day.
The cabin we're renting for 2 weeks is about 20 miles from the airport but there is NOTHING but forest between the airport and the cabin. It felt like I turned left out of the parking lot and was in the wilderness for the next 20 miles. Beautiful. This picture was taken along the road.
Aurora hunters are ALWAYS happy to see blue sky peeking out after a rainy day, later in the afternoon.
Hard to get used to the time changes! I'm exhausted but will be up long after dark to see if we get any of the Lady Aurora dancing tonight! I'm getting alerts already.
Then I got to the cabin. I just have to say, Julie is the absolute best at picking Airbnb cabins for us. This place is wonderful and exactly what we need. All freshly remodeled inside, and secluded land around us. I'm thinking I need to be careful if I'm out tonight - I'll be in the car so those grizzly bears don't get me!
The cabin and our rental Jeep.
The side deck.
The back yard. The property goes farther than the tree line.
North-facing
This is a picture of the closest house to us. Can you see it? No? It's there!
The side yard.
The driveway. See our cabin down the little hill?
No idea what berry this is but it's pretty!
Another pic of our cabin, showing the clearing and all the forest around.
At 60 degrees, barefoot and a sweatshirt was perfect.
....and a lovely hot cup of tea.
I do this when I'm in a place I love -- but I would love to live here someday. Probably never going to happen, and when I say "live" here I do NOT mean in the winter. April through September would be perfect. Yes please.
Pics of the inside of the cabin will have to wait. Now I'm off to unpack and charge my camera batteries!
AND THEN NIGHT FELL.
OMG Aurora was glorious tonight! I went up to the top of the hill right at the end of our driveway and the progression of the auroral display was just like you see in these photos. These are in order, from the glowy-green diffused cloudy sky, to full on dancing Aurora.
Honestly people - Alaska spoils us for anything remotely resembling the northern lights in the Midwest. I still get excited in Michigan, but....THIS is why we chase the lady Aurora to Alaska!
Also - these are NOT edited at all. This was the color I saw, the shapes, and straight overhead, to the north, to the south, east, and west. I'll probably edit a few of these tomorrow, but most don't need anything at all. I'm beyond happy.
There was one moment when the movement was very intense, fast-moving, overhead - it looked like a hand moving... and it started heading down right toward me. I felt like I could reach out and touch it. Thank the Good Lord for this fantastic show tonight.
The inside of the cabin pics are below.
Front door and foyer. Plenty of hooks for coats, bags, etc.
Living room #1 on the main level.
Kitchen with a view!
In the front hallway, the circular staircase goes up to the loft bedroom.
The loft bedroom - with a great workspace.
Huge king-size bed with a view.
Walk-out basement living space.
Bar in the walk-out basement, complete with my favorite feature....a Big Dipper light sculpture!
Full bath in the basement living space.
Bedroom on the main level
Full bath on the main level
GREAT shower in the main level bath
This water tank is in the lower (basement) level of the cabin and according to our host, she is on water delivery. This tank is massive. It reminds me of having our own personal water tower but INSIDE the house! This ingenious contraption eliminates the often smelly sulfuric but potable water in Alaska; and eliminates the need for buying tons of bottled water.
Below is a series of 3 photos I call "The Road Home" which means my "home" for 15 days!
Breakfast at The Cookie Jar in Fairbanks.
Early morning - checked the data, checked Julie's flight status, checked the sky, checked the data.... over and over!
A 2:00 am trip to the airport to collect Julie and we stopped to photo tonight's northern lights!
After a little bit of sleep (trust me, not much!) we got up, had breakfast (cinnamon roll from The Cookie Jar) and got ready for a day of exploration. The goal was to find a better viewpoint for photographing the northern lights, and turned out a trip to the top of Ester Dome AND Murphy Dome.
Ester Dome is a prominent mountain just outside of Fairbanks. It is 2,364 ft above sea level and is the closest to where we are staying. From the summit you can see the White Mountains (north) the Alaska Range and the Tanana River (south) and on clear days you can see Denali from this vantage point. Denali is 200 miles southeast of here.
Historically, Ester Dome and the surrounding rivers and creek areas were (and still are!) mined for gold and quartz. Wildlife is also abundant; moose are common in the area, as are gray wolves, black bears, brown bears, badgers, red fox, marmots, lynx, snowshoe hares, voles, and muskrats. Despite having bear spray with us, we saw none of the above! Geographically, Ester Dome was created by many seismically active faults during the cretacious period.
Murphy Dome is farther away from where we're staying, and larger, at 2877 ft above sea level. There used to be an air force base up here, but the only thing left is a lot of equipment and this observatory; government owned and not open to the public. The land around it tho, at the summit, IS open to the public and is stunning
Linner at our favorite Thai place, Lemongrass, in Fairbanks on the way home for a nap. Evidently, there was an earthquake while we were there. People in areas 5-15 minutes from us posted that they felt it, but we didn't. Hope that's not an indication of things to come!
Chicken Gaeng Masman (green curry), Tod mun kao poad (sweet corn cakes) and spring rolls.
Today was a day that made us really glad we saw a tiny bit of aurora already, and we did the big explore of the mountains yesterday when the weather was great and the sun shone! Today was miserable, weather-wise. High around 45° F, and rain/fog/drizzle/mist/rain all last night, today and tonight. A good day for the local farmer's market, errands, eating out, and napping!
The sky looks blue but it's not - overcast and fog.
They grow cabbages HUGE up here! The farmer's market was amazing - seeing the beautiful produce.... the season is over though, and the last farmer's market in Fairbanks will be Saturday.
The mushrooms tho! Wow they are beautiful and all edible! Mushroom pasta tonight!
We had lunch today at the Chowder House. We'd been here the last time we were in Fairbanks and loved it. It has moved to a new location but is equally delicious. Julie had salmon chowder, and I had tomato florentine soup - and we shared an order of Crab Rolls. Pictured is only HALF of the order. The Alaskan King Crab meat was local, fresh, and delicious. Served on a fresh-baked roll (you get two! That's why we shared!) with drawn butter and some kind of a zesty sour cream sauce. We will be back.
Shopping for supplies we came across these (and so many others!) local delicacies. No thank you to both, but we decided we're definitely not in Kansas anymore! (or Illinois or Michigan!)
Alaskan Sausage with reindeer meat - and Salmon strips.
I posted about our huge water tank here at the cabin. We started noticing that MANY trucks driving around carried a huge water tank. After investigating, we learned that this is a big thing here in Fairbanks. Water is not 'city' water because laying pipe in this rocky, mountainous terrain is just not feasible. Also, there are earthquakes. So, they have come up with this ingenious method - just buy yourself a water tank that will go in the back of your truck -- go to the water station and fill it up. Then drain it into your house tank and you're good to go! You can also get delivery set up and they come out to your house on a schedule and you get fresh, potable water. Drilling a well is also not recommended.
The Alaskan ingenuity!
I love Alaska. I want to live here. Have I mentioned that?!
This was dinner - we bought a bunch of Piopinno mushrooms, sauteed them in butter and olive oil with onion and garlic, added rotisserie chicken, and tossed with linguine and parm/fontina cheese. Added a lovely salad with ingredients from the market. and garlic herb bread also from the market. Divine! Our cabin is equipped with brand new cookware and utensils - worked out well!
After a good night's sleep (me especially!) we had some breakfast and then started organizing our camera equipment for tonight's Aurora Hunters excursion with Ronn and Marketa. They are so good at finding holes in the clouds for great aurora viewings. We wanted to get our equipment ready, charge batteries, and pack up for the trip.
Near crisis - my good Manfrotto tripod broke. I panicked - you can't take dark sky photos without a tripod. SO first we thought we'd find a place to rent one, but then Julie found a camera guy who sells all kinds of equipment out of his house-- just 6 miles from our house! She called and he had the perfect tripod for me, in stock and ready to go! So off we went. Found the river on the way there, and some beautiful views along the way.
We drove around a bit - found an airport and the Cheena River, and even saw a few float planes. The airport looked kind of like an old airplane graveyard, but the signs around the airport were so typical of Alaska I had to start taking all the pics.
Hard to see hidden in the weeds: Airplane Crossing and Yield to Aircraft.
The two signs below were on the same property's driveway, visible from the street... right near this old airstrip. Oh, Alaska!
The aurora borealis chase last night/this morning resulted in dismal aurora data and hours of standing around waiting. It's what happens when you're nerds like Julie and me! The pic at the left was taken by our friend, Marketa who was also our navigator, meteorologist, and host last night. My camera got similar purple little bits of aurora for about 5 minutes at the very end of the night. Disappointing but - we've got more time! See captions by the rest of the nighttime pics below.
Moose hunters - the back of a truck at a meeting spot. To be honest, the truck had a bad odor...
Taken with my iPhone 12 ProMax at the north facing location between Fairbanks and Nenana.
iPhone shot of our driveway as we returned home, disappointed.
Today we slept in a bit (after returning home at 5 am!) When we got up and went out on the deck, this was how we were greeted. A combination of sunshine sunbeams through the yellow trees and fog - made for this perfect shot!
Then, we went exploring - our own personal color tour of Fairbanks and the surrounding area. Drove southeast toward Nenana then west to North Pole.
This is looking south toward the mountains. They're very far away (about 150 miles) in these shots - the bottom one is zoomed in a bit. Still - stunning.
Alaskan Signs, part 2
During this trip we are noticing a lot of unique signage that seems to be classic Alaska. See yesterday's post for part 1.... here we go on the second part of this crazy sign journey!
We remember this bar from a couple years ago - evidently it's been here forever. If you study ALL the parts of this place, you'll see why I am not posting this on Facebook. I'm thinking I'd be in Facebook jail for obscenity!
Note that the "no pooping" sign is right next to the outhouse.
North Pole and the Santa Claus House were next! A perennial favorite. Mr. and Mrs. Claus were there, too!
My favorite thing to get there, which is hard to find anywhere else - is black licorice caramel. It's so good - and makes a delicious licorice ice cream. I'll be taking some of this home for sure.
The dashboard told us it was 60 degrees outside. What a gorgeous day!
We had heard from our Aurora friends that there is a great Mediterranean restaurant near the airport that we should try. Spice It Up.... absolutely delicious! Butter chicken, rice, salad - and garlic naan bread.
We drove out west of Fairbanks a little before 11 pm to a tiny dirt road very dark loop that our friends showed us about. It's a great north view. We pulled in, saw that there was a camper van there but nobody else, and locked ourselves in and took a nap because the sky was super cloudy but supposed to clear.
I can't remember which of us woke first, (around 1:00 am) but I think it was Jules - because I remember her practically having a heart attack trying to get out the door! The sky had cleared and the Lady Aurora was dancing! She danced for hours!
What a night! The chart shown here was from the whole night and showed the data we keep talking about. Just a couple little spikes of negative bz was enough for this show.
I was having technical difficulties - having been so quickly awakened, and using my new tripod in the dark had me completely dizzy. I struggled with the tripod legs, the camera's seat, the new settings we learned from Ronn and Marketa, and rushing to make sure I caught the show was enough to make me frustrated. Finally I rigged it up and this was my first shot. It just got better from there!
Jules and I were screaming! Keep scrolling to see some more amazing color and light show.
Hours and hours this went on. Ok well maybe about 2 1/2 hours. I realize some of these look alike but if you look closely, no two shots are alike. They have differences, nuances, color changes, shape changes, altitude changes, formation changes. I just can't even with this.
It faded to a faint green band on the northern horizon. Below are some shots of this. At home (or in northern Michigan, Wisconsin, or Minnesota) these would be considered FANTASTIC aurora. But up here.... not so much! Jules and I are afraid we're now spoiled forever.
As the aurora finally started fading, (around 3:30 am) so we decided to pack it up. Tried stopping down by the Chena River close to our cabin, to see if things heated up again. The river parking there was crammed full of moose hunters' trucks and boat trailers. NOPE on that. Tried one more spot, and figured it was over for the night.
We were pretty keyed up by the amazing aurora we'd seen so we had a snack and started processing photos before trying to sleep. Jules happened to step outside on the deck and started yelling -- "LIBBY GET YOUR CAMERA - SHE'S DANCING AGAIN!" And just like that, we ended up basically watching the sunrise while shooting the most amazing colorful, moving aurora we'd ever seen! Photos do not do it justice but if we never see another show we'll die happy!
Our airbnb host wanted some shots of the cabin and grounds if we had an aurora here - so we did our best! All the photos below were taken of the cabin, from the deck, or from the yard. The aurora was all over us - north, south, east, west, and overhead. AHHHH-mazing.
The bright white light is the half-moon.
We tried again last night, but alas - the wind and clouds were too much for us (probably from Typhoon Merbok) so we went home to sleep. On the way to our adventures this morning, we stopped at University of Alaska-Fairbanks for the view (at the left). On a good day you can see all the way to Denali but not today!
This morning we went adventuring to Olnes Pond, which is about an hour north of Fairbanks in the beautiful hills. It was a stunning drive up and over the mountain, and the pond will make a perfect backdrop, with north facing beach areas for us if we get a clear night in the area.
Beautiful, lush fields of clover.
Jules found a four-leaf one!
Evidently, if you back right into the lake you can tailgate-fish!
On the way home we stopped at one of our favorite 'truck' stops, the Hillside Diner.... for PIE of course!
Another stop in Fox, where we filled up Julie's camp water jugs with delicious fresh spring water. The little shack at the left has two spigots that shoot out water really fast from the springs. People come from all around to fill up jugs - most ginormous water jugs! It's delicious and fresh water - everyone should try it at least once! It's free, too!
Beautiful bluebird sky and bright yellow aspen.
Watch this quick video - looks like it's snowing yellow leaves. Serenity.
Even a pretty moth/butterfly!
The next unique experience - we had water delivered to the huge tank in the basement today. The guy OVERfilled it, and we have a flooded basement. A call to the airbnb host resulted in a 2 hour wait but they came and cleaned up (we did most of that!) and left us fans to help dry it up. WOW. Big mess! It was nice to meet the owners though - and just as we thought, they are lovely people!
As I sat at the desk in the loft here at the cabin, writing this blog, the earth shook. The second one in our time here! Turns out it was a 4.5 magnitude earthquake just 15 miles from our house. Yikes! Then there was another one a few minutes later, 2.5 magnitude. That's a first for me!
The arrow is where we are, the yellow star is the epicenter of both today's earthquakes.
Oh Alaska!
Let's recap: we've been here a week, had an earthquake, a typhoon, a flood, and two more earthquakes. We think we'll stay put tonight. :)
Last night's Aurora notes: We went to Olnes Pond which was supposed to be the clearest spot within an hour drive - between 11 and 1 am. Driving there it was clear; once we got there and were waiting for astronomical dark and the aurora data to improve, the clouds rolled in.
Around midnight:
the solar wind speed was up between 400 and 500; excellent.
The BZ dropped to negative: excellent.
The ovation showed right over Fairbanks; excellent.
BT was over 6; good.
Hemispheric power was in the teens; fair.
Density was between 5 and 8; excellent.
These are conditions we'd be excited about even in the upper midwest so - seeing that we're in ALASKA at a latitude of almost 65 °N, we were SURE we'd see our big green friend.
Yet, no aurora. Clouds were partially a factor, but the clouds weren't too dense that we should have seen green behind them. We got home, checked nearby aurora cams, and saw some green on the horizon on Ronn's cam so we tried again. Nada. Checked periodically through the night and had stars - so also took test shots. Nothing. Jules got up in the middle of the night and took some test shots, got a tiny corner of green but no band, no pillars, nothing but a tiny green glow. Why? This is a question for the experts--just written here to discuss with those experts later!
Mostly cloudy with intermittent sun today, high around 53°F, and a bit windy.
Laundry day! Also shopping a bit; we found a co-op in downtown Fairbanks we want to try, and we need supplies. Lunch at Soba, a Moldovan restaurant. Neither of us have ever had Moldovan food, so we gave it a try. The chicken meatball soup was so good!
Gotta love a town that lists the daily aurora forecast right next to the weather in the newspaper!
One of us woke up every hour to check the sky and it was an effort made in vain! Clouds and more clouds. Finally clear-ish skies around 5:30 am but alas....no aurora!
DENALI DAY!
Today we drove the two hours from Southwest Fairbanks to Denali National Park - and the sun was in and out, shining in all the right places for great photos! Not many of these will need explanation - but look for captions. It was a glorious day!
The scene at the left is the road to Denali. Not quite in the park, but getting close. You can tell by the mountains directly ahead!
One of our potential (and past) night sky photography sites is the bridge at Nenana. Today we stopped there for daylight pics - and a little tour of this very old, cute little town.
Also near Healy, on the way south from Fairbanks to Denali NP.
Random pics throughout the park below.
We hoped to see:
#1 Grizzly Bear
#2 Moose
#3 Caribou
We were unable to find any moose or caribou, but two grizzlies made up for it!
This is the sign on the door of one of the outbuildings at the Denali Sled Dogs location (which was unfortunately closed today!)
At the Visitor's Center, Julie sits on a big beautiful grizzly bear sculpture.
Grizzly Bear encounter - NUMBER 1! As we came around a mountain on the 30 mile trek to the "end of the line" in the park, we saw a "bear jam" which means any cars that are in the area will stop if someone spots a bear. It's kind of handy if you're not looking the right direction. There happened to be a Ranger there, and she pointed out the grizzly bear to us on the side of the mountain, foraging for berries. They're getting ready to hibernate, but aren't in their dens yet. He was a HUGE grizzly, just walking slowly snuffling through the bushes. These shots were taken with a maximum zoom on my little Canon with a 1000x zoom.
Julie took this quick, 10 second video of the bear. It shows his typical movements as he forages.
These mountains tho..... the colors of the trees and the low shrub growth, the mountains, the rocks... just wow. Nothing in the world like Alaska in September.
We turned around at mile marker 30 (this is as far as the road is open at this time of year) and headed back slowly. Then, as stereo 'gasps' - we both spotted another grizzly on a hillside right in front of us! We practically stopped the car in the middle of the street and jumped out! Staying super close to the car though - just in case.
Start with the first photo, and do a little "Where's Waldo"....! Then you'll spot him smiling in the next two shots!
Even more pics.... They're all equally beautiful. The colors tho..!
Denali in September is stunning. After the buses stop for the season, and before the first snow flies, they open up the park to drive the first 30 miles. We've hit this special few days a couple of times now and feel very lucky each time. If you've ever considered coming to Alaska, just do it. In September!
Home now to wait for the Northern Lights to appear! Fingers (and data) crossed!
....AND the wait was well worth it! The aurora borealis exploded into the night sky after a slow build. The build up isn't often visible in Michigan, Wisconsin, or Minnesota - so to get to see it here was amazing. Below is a series of 3 shots, to show the build up of hemispheric power to an overhead northern lights display. These 3 pics were all taken from about the same place, and with the same camera settings. The only difference is the time of night. Aurora at this latitude often builds slowly then explodes overhead.
11:29 pm
12:43 am
12:55 am
After we noticed the quick build from photo 2 to photo 3, we knew it would explode overhead next. We ran down the hill and got a great show! There are nuances in each photo that is different from the next. I'll caption important stuff to look for.
Above the green glow you can see faint red color, then another very diffuse band of green on top of that. Around 1:00 am.
Super bright (I actually had to tone it down in photoshop!) and see the thin pink/purple pillar to the left of the green band? A version of S.T.E.V.E.("Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement")
At this point, with the right camera settings the whole sky would look green!
Double band and huge structure in the center! Raining aurora!
Antlers?! Just stunningly beautiful in person!
This shows the movement in the sky. Swirls, curtains, and pulsating color.
When we get the red on top it quickly becomes a personal favorite.
Camera pointed almost straight up.
Camera pointed absolutely straight up.
Of course, we tried to sleep today! Then dinner at the coolest wood-fired pizza place! Highly recommend! It's on the airport grounds looking over the runway. A bunch of old airplane paraphernalia all over the place. And delicious pizza and salad!
Parked right next to this... kinda made me jump!
a beer, a cider, and a aviation map table top.
The woodfired oven
An Army taildragger bushplane.
Breadsticks and yummy salad
The restaurant waiting area - old airliner seats
Home to a lovely fire in the wood stove. A good day but now it's time to read a bit and sleep! It's a rainy/snowy night around interior Alaska. Aurora data is not good either. Good night to stay put.
Finally a good night's sleep! Rain and fog all night, and aurora conditions were less than optimal so.... YAY Sleep!
Today we found a few little shops and had some fun!
First stop, the Northern Whimsy Art Studio. This was a GREAT place! Full of artists' work from all around Alaska, we might have spent a little bit of money in here. Loved everything about it!
Across the street was another Gift Shop. Kinda creepy on the outside. Even creepier on the inside. No thanks.
Lunch at the Thai House. This place came highly recommended, and it was really good! Julie and I agreed though - our favorite Lemongrass is still our #1 go-to Thai place in Fairbanks.
Then we found The Roaming Root Cellar. This place is a lot like the farmer's market in town, but now that the market is closed for the season, it's a great place to find fresh meats and produce! Also lots of arts and crafts too. And right next door is a bakery and on the other side a tea house.
Tonight we go out aurora chasing with the famous Aurora Chasers, Ronn and Marketa. Fingers crossed! If anybody can find a hole in the clouds and a view of the northern lights, it's these lovely folks!
Did we ever get the great aurora luck! Amazing all the way around. It may take me years to process all the pictures but..... I will get there! The pic at the left is just a preview of some portrait playing we did.
This pic is lit only by the light of the aurora. No moon, no filter, no lightpainting.... just the aurora overhead and all around us, and reflected in the water.
At the right is a portrait that Marketa took. She does these as a part of the Aurora Chasers night; in other words if you let them take you to all the best places, she'll reward you with a portrait! If it's your first time, or even your tenth time seeing the lights, I highly recommend The Aurora Chasers if you're in Fairbanks. The nicest people and the best knowledge of the lights!
Below is PART 1 of the reflection pics. Consider this a "photo dump" because one is better than the next! I couldn't decide so I edited all of these. This is only a small percentage of the photos I took on this night..... I took over 500 photos! Some have captions if there's something to note specifically.
Rainbow Aurora raining down on us! Amazing greens, pinks, purples, magentas, even yellows in this shot. This was the beginning of the night.
It went wild here, then died down.....
This is after it "died down" - simply a green sky from horizon to horizon with little to no structure for a while.
Heating up again around 3 am!
Look at this shot of the Pleiades! The Seven Sisters are really more like the 10+ sisters, from Alaskan skies anyway. With a green aurora backdrop...wow!
Also note that the Pleiades are in the southeastern sky at first dark, then travel west.
Play the little 10 second time-lapse below. It was taken in an hour's time, but condensed down into a 10 second video. It shows the structure, movement, and highs and lows of the aurora at this latitude. Pure joy!
Seriously green everywhere. This pic is special because of the great view of the Pleiades, as well as a cool Jupiter lens flare!
The next series of photos are of the overhead aurora. Some are taken with a fisheye lens, some are just with my wide-angle.
This one reminds me of a bird, perhaps a phoenix rising from the earth toward the heavens.... Or the phoenix carried on the solar winds to grace earth with its presence.
Sorry. Waxing poetic there.
But seriously this phenomenon is magical. I can't get enough.
The van...and a few people around the pond. We had great skies free from clouds so we stayed put all night.
We got home around 5:00 am and the aurora was STILL going strong - but underneath the clouds now. Cool shot from our deck.
WHAT A NIGHT! BEST NIGHT EVER.
We were definitely OFF THE GRID up here! ------>
After trying to sleep till noon, (we didn't quite make that!) we got up and started our daily explore.
We drove up toward Chena Hot Springs; we've been there before in years past and were less than impressed.....so we didn't quite go all the way up there, but instead stopped along that long road to look for wildlife. We were hoping for moose, but alas....
We found some pretty spots, and....
So many beaver dams!
This guy emerged from his huge pile in the middle of the river and swam to the other side. Brought back a branch, swam under his dam, came up and went to a different place to find important things for dam building.
So cool to watch!
We slept SO MUCH last night! It was cloudy here and in the surrounding areas....so we just decided to call it, and sleep. Much needed. We were both exhausted! So when we got up today we were feeling wonderful!
Went shopping. Naturally. :)
The Great Alaskan Bowl company is only one of THREE wooden bowl manufacturers in the U.S. - Vermont, Michigan, and Alaska. Their bowls are second to none. Beautiful, great store, and you can even watch the process through glass windows. So interesting!
After another stop at the tea shop, we had lunch/dinner at The Chowder House again. It's so good! Crab roll and soup/chili. Yum!
Both of the pics below were from the Fred Meyer store. The sign on the truck is VERY Alaska.
And the 49th State Brewing company is making some Frontier soda in Pumpkin Pie Soda flavor. Nope - we didn't try it!
The data looked SUPER good for tonight, earlier in the day. Earth weather is still good, but the aurora data is tanking :(
Time will tell.
...aaaannnndddd it stayed tanked. Bummer, after hearing there was a G1 storm predicted for tonight! We went out to our secret spot southwest of Fairbanks, and there she was, a band of green on the horizon. It built to a wider, brighter band, but that was it. Nothing special, and the data supports that right now. Oh well, we're so happy with the last 2 weeks of aurora chasing!
In looking at this picture, I can safely say we're now extremely spoiled. Julie and I were talking about this earlier tonight. If we were in the U.P. of Michigan, or Northern Wisconsin or even Northern Minnesota, we'd be screaming with joy for this picture! We're Alaska-spoiled. And lovin' it!
But wait!!!!!
We were ready to sleep and Julie was watching the other webcams in the area. Suddenly she's yelling up the stairs "Libby get down here!"... and the sky exploded.
This is Julie watching the show!
These little "spurts" of structure in the aurora were interesting to watch. We have very low solar wind speed tonight - between 330-390 km/s, but a negative bz and good hemispheric power. Not sure why the spurts happen but they will last anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes each time.
Taken from my loft bedroom window at 3:00 am with my iPhone 12 Pro Max. This doesn’t suck!!
— in Chena Ridge, Alaska.
This night's aurora is like the energizer bunny - it keeps going, and going, and going.....
These last couple (below) were taken around 5:00 am. I think. It's all a blur right now!
On our last day in Fairbanks, we were thrilled to have beautiful weather once again. With the forecast for snow tomorrow night, we might have just missed any cold/snowy weather this trip! We went out to try and see the mountain (Denali) as it was really clear.
We saw it, but the top was shrouded in cloud as it usually is. This, from over 100 miles from the mountain.
This place in September is like nothing else, including the beautiful northern Great Lakes area in October/fall colors. I will be back soon.