Don't go aurora hunting after eating a massive Thanksgiving meal ;)

Drove up to Hatcher Pass last night because of a very strong aurora forecast, in the Kp5-6 range, which would have been an aurora storm.  Our good friend's two kids that were visiting from Los Angeles really wanted to see aurora while they were visiting Alaska for Thanksgiving, so off we went.  We arrived about 10:30pm to clear skies and a brilliant Milky Way, but no aurora at all.  So we sat and waited, and waited, and tried to fight off the turkey coma.  

We started to get a high film of clouds moving in, but finally some aurora did finally show up around midnight, so at least they got to see some live aurora in Alaska.  Fun for all.  Home at 2am.

Thankful to live in this magical place.

I nice little show early last night.  Started around 9pm, which is really nice :) and went until around 11pm, with one strong burst of action that only lasted about 5 minutes.  Evidently there was strong aurora again around 3am 

Starry, starry night.

The aurora didn't end up doing much at all here in Bear Valley last night, but Oh My God, the stars and Milky Way were incredible.  It always amazes me how much more the camera can see than the naked eye.  These were 20-30 second exposures.  Click to view full-screen.

As strong as it got around 11pm.  A night flight heading to an early Thanksgiving dinner?

Just a hint of aurora and the Milky Way rising up behind the house.

Straight up, bathed in starlight.

Another gorgeous, sunny afternoon.

Felt good to be back out on a sunny day taking pictures.  Still barely any snow on the ground here in Anchorage.  This is the third year in a row where there hasn't been enough to cross-country ski before Thanksgiving.  Last year, we never did get to ski once on the groomed trails, because there never was enough snow the entire season.  No snow is starting to feel like the new normal here. 

The view of the Fire Island Wind Farm from Bear Valley.

Rush hour on Clark's Road.  Bear Valley in the background.

Mount Foraker on the horizon at sunset. 

Foraker, Hunter and Denali at Sunset.