Andy and Brianna

I have been a slacker (as usual) at blogging and I have a whole slew of excuses that I will go ahead and skip at this time so that I can jump to what we have been up to.

We just ended a tour that could quite possibly rank as my worst tour ever. In the event someone Googles me and stumbles upon my blog, I am not going to go into details as I wouldn't want to hurt their feelers! Let's just say I am happy it is over. Really happy! We had the most amazing weather that I have seen on a tour this year and I don't think the people appreciated it...at all. Very frustrating to me. (Side note: A few weeks ago I had this really annoying couple who were upset that it was cold out and said to me, "No one told us how to pack for our trip to Alaska, this is not fair." Really?! And it isn't like they were old, because usually I give grandpas and grandmas the benefit of the doubt that maybe they don't have Internet or a way to check the weather. If anything, most people pack too many layer-type clothes because they expect it to be really cold and then they wish they'd thrown in a pair of shorts.) Anyway, we were able to see Mt. McKinley from the South Overlook (I have only seen it from there three times this summer) and we had beautiful weather for the tour into Denali National Park. We then took the train to Fairbanks and again, the weather was gorgeous. I had one lady say to me, "Are we actually going to see animals from the train?" I replied, "Well, it seems to me that the train is probably pretty loud and startling so I'm gonna go ahead and say no, but there is always the possibility." She then said, "Well then, is there wifi on the train?" I got defensive and said sarcastically, "Nope. People pay thousands of dollars to get here, we are not about to put wifi on our train cars. Why don't you look out the window and enjoy what Alaska has to offer." Seriously my least favorite group ever. And there were a handful of reasons that I already did not like this lady, thus my sassy remarks.

It was a little too warm out for these Alaskans!
(It was probably 65 and we were both sweating.)

I can see how having wifi would be awesome, but that is because I ride the train weekly and at no cost to me. Enjoy it, people!

Continuing on...so there is an Aurora Borealis Forecast on the web that I watch religiously. It forecasts the Northern Lights on a scale from 0-9, 9 being the highest chance of seeing them. Well, a few weeks ago there was a solar storm and the predictions were coming in at a 4. I was very excited, but they did not appear where I was. About a week later the prediction was at a 3 and I set a wakeup call at the hotel we were staying at in the event the lights were out - lo and behold, the phone rang at about 2:00am and they were out, but only faintly. I was kinda disappointed, but it is still early in the season (fall/winter) to be seeing them. Come to find out, the main building (where our people stayed) had an incredible view of the lights! Guests came out the next morning, cameras in tow, showing us pictures right and left. They were amazing. We had been staying in a different building and the main building obscured where the real light show was occurring.

So fast forward to this weekend. The weather was remarkable, but the prediction was only coming in at a 2. I told my group that they could put their name on the wakeup call list and if the night crew saw the lights, they'd get a call. The next morning many people came and told me that they'd seen the lights and that they were awesome. I am at the point in the season where I value my sleep, so I go back and forth about putting my name on the wakeup call list. I opted not to on Sunday night, but thankfully my bladder woke me up and I saw them! I wish that I could have recorded exactly how it all went down. It was 12:45am and I got up to go to the bathroom. Before I got into bed I thought, you should look outside to see if the lights are out since they were out last night and it was only a 2. I stumbled over my bags which were at the foot of my bed, made it over to the curtains and opened them. BOOM! The lights were neon green and reflecting off of the river directly in front of me. Oh my gosh! It was one of the most unreal things I have ever seen. I wish that I could have seen my reaction. I bet my jaw dropped! I whispered loudly, "Andy! Andy! The lights are out!" He got right up and came over the window. I think it took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust and he simply said, "Holy cow!" We stepped out onto our balcony to check it out. It was so fun! You could hear a lot of people whispering and would see the occasional flash from a camera, but you couldn't see anyone. It was pitch black out except for the stars in the sky and the incredible incredible incredible northern lights!! I assume we watched for about 30 minutes at which point they had dissapated across the sky and were quite faint. We tried to capture a few photos, but our camera is just a point and shoot:

However, our friend Jed (who works nights for RCT) was able to snag these with his fancy shmancy camera. We were watching at the same time and I honestly think I am ready to buy a nice camera just to get pictures like his of the aurora. They are almost...heavenly!



We are back to work tomorrow morning, bright and early. It will be my last tour and Andy's second to last tour. I go back to school not this upcoming week but the next. Ahh! My next update will be all about that, but for now, I think I ought to start packing for tour (which really isn't that difficult - just make sure that the clothes that have been in the suitcases for four months are clean haha).