As predicted, clouds hid the Northern Lights from us last night, but I was actually grateful to be able to get some sleep after several late nights. In lieu of new photos, the picture below is the second of two rocket launches from Monday night. The rockets launched thirty seconds apart and were designed to do things that the very smart people at NASA can explain far better than I can, so read this article if you’re interested in what Earth observation scientists are doing these days.
Today temperatures rose nearly thirty degrees to an almost-comfortable 10F, so we hopped in the car and made the 90 minute one-way trip out to Chena Hot Springs. There’s something very soothing about unleashing your inner Japanese snow monkey and relaxing in a hot spring surrounded by snow and ice, with steam pouring off of the water and freezing almost instantly thereafter. While not a problem for me, the visitors who still had hair on their head all had frozen strands as the steam condensed and turned to wispy ice. Final verdict: not a bad way to spend a few hours.
Clouds are threatening again tonight, although at the moment the sky is more than half clear so we’re not sure how the evening will go. It’s sadly our last night at the Aurora Borealis Lodge, but we still have three nights remaining in the trip that we’ll be spending at an old trapper cabin that is only a few miles away as the crow flies, but 45 minutes away as the Alaskan roads run.
Ethereal!