Check Mark 27: See the Northern Lights

Don't be deceived by this being check mark 27 - this has always been the number one thing to do on my bucket list!  It didn't matter when or where, but I was determined to see those beautiful lights!  Finally, on our latest trip to Alaska in March 2013, I saw them!  I saw the Northern Lights!  Granted that was the purpose of this trip to Fairbanks, I learned that you can't plan or predict seeing the lights.  I met people on my trip to Fairbanks that have made several trips to see the lights and still haven't seen them.

Our flight to Fairbanks consisted of several legs - from Cincinnati to Minneapolis, from Minneapolis to Seattle, and then Seattle to Fairbanks.  Needless to say, the last part of our journey was a red-eye flight.  Unfortunately I had a middle seat and my husband snagged the aisle, but the guy seated in the window seat was an unexpected blessing.  As we approached Delta Junction, Alaska, the light show began.  I was trying to maneuver to see the lights through the windows without disturbing anyone, but the guy next to me noticed my interest in the lights.  It ended up that he was from Alaska and worked in the control tower at the airport and had seen the lights a million times and was more than willing to switch seats with me!!  For about the next 45 minutes, I got to witness the spectacular green lights dance from the airplane all thanks to this generous person!

I was so happy to have seen the lights from the plane because that relieved the pressure for the rest of the trip, which was a good thing because the only other lights we saw were faint green over Chena Hot Springs - not near as exciting as seeing them dance from the plane!  This picture I am posting is not one that I took.  I pulled it off Google but it is exactly what I saw from the plane that night.  I just didn't have a sensitive enough camera to capture the lights.  Again, I didn't want the pressure of trying to capture the perfect picture, so please excuse the fact that the picture below was not taken by me.