Unless you live under a rock, you've seen the pictures of the northern lights from many parts of the world over the weekend. My social media feed has never looked this beautiful!
Like a lot of people, seeing the northern lights is part of my bucket list. I didn't know this was going to happen or else I'd been better prepared. I woke up Saturday morning to pictures from all over the world - each more stunning than the other. I couldn't believe I'd missed it!! I cursed my 930 PM bedtime as if staying awake would have solved the knowledge gap.
A quick search showed there is still pretty strong geomagnetic activity i.e we could spot it tonight. Strong with a sense of adventure, I hit up a couple of my friends and told them we're driving north to spot the lights.
The weather app left no doubt that it would be rainy and cloudy. ‘If we go we MIGHT see the lights, if we don't go, the odds are zero’ I declared confidently.
10 PM Saturday night and we're driving. Full of optimism and a car full of snacks.
We drove 2.5 hours north with the hope of spotting it. As we left the city, we could see tinges of green across the sky.
“It's right there! Just need the clouds to move” - my friend said in excitement.
“If faith can move mountains, it can definitely move a few clouds” she added wisely.
When one is optimistic, everything feels possible. The playlist was hitting, snacks were flowing and we laughed and talked about many random things.
We made it to the dark sky preserve, and looked up. Again to see a faint green light but blocked by the clouds.
We stood there, looking up for half an hour but eventually gave up and drove back.
Our faith didn't move mountains or clouds that night, but I will look back to that night with fondness.
I made a quick, unplanned road trip with 3 of my closest friends. We laughed, snacked, and believed it was possible even though the data overwhelmingly said it wasn't.
I wish we had seen the lights. It would have been a perfect ending to this story. Well, that’s life.
I’m sure I’ll see the northern lights soon, I hope I’m with the people I love when it happens.
Don’t forget - The journey is the destination :)
Just a bunch of optimistic kids driving north
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