Three in a row.

The third night of strong aurora!  Saw the first bands low on the northern horizon around 8:30 pm, which is really early for us here in Anchorage.  They did their typical pre-game tease--a couple minutes of a fairly bright band, and then the disappeared until 10:30, when they blew up again in racing bands of green and pink.  The conditions last night weren't quite as good as the night before, a bit of haze in the air, cold, and very windy.  The strong pink blast again only lasted a couple of minutes, and then she settled into a nice display that I shot until just before midnight, before calling it a night to thaw out.  I need some sleep :)

5 minutes of absolute magic.

Another night of amazing aurora, even stronger than the night/morning before.  It started to show early, around 9 pm, and then at 10:42 pm the sky exploded with the most brilliant pink aurora we've seen in years here in Anchorage.  The pink bands were blasting across the sky, looking like heavy surf waves running along a beach.  And true to how the aurora dances sometimes, this intense color only lasted 5 minutes!   There was still gorgeous green aurora for hours afterward, but this short gift came and went quickly.   I gave up at 1 am because I couldn't feel my nose anymore.  It was cold this morning!

Strongest Aurora of the year so far!

Finally!  We've been missing out on some decent Auroral displays the past couple of months here in Anchorage.  Well, early this morning we made up for it with one of the strongest and longest lasting displays we've had in quite awhile.  It started to build up just after midnight and really blew up from 1am to about 2:30am.  Gorgeous curtains, spikes, swirls and shadows. There was aurora in the sky until 6:30 this morning.  

Way too many pictures, but I've been having Aurora withdrawl, so hopefully you'll enjoy them.  Click on them for full-screen.

Baby we were born to run! Fur Rondy 2017

When I moved to Alaska the first time, one of the big events I shot was the North American Sled Dog Championship race in Fairbanks early in 1985.  The queen of sprint racing at that time was Roxy Wright.  Today, 32 years later, Roxy won the 2017 Fur Rendezvous Open Championship Sled dog races here in Anchorage.  3 days, a 25-mile sprint each day that takes these dogs less than an hour and a half to run.  She won.  She's 66 years old.  Alaska women are tough!  What a fun day shooting incredibly happy dogs and what fond memories triggered.