The Sky’s Awake

This year, we’ve had an unusually high occurrence of Northern Lights stretching all the way into Indiana and beyond. Of course, we have the regional cloudy skies to contend with, and the ever-present light pollution from Indy to contend with. When Jack read there was another opportunity to see them AND clear skies, we were pretty determined to see them.

Even though it was a school night, we packed up the kids in search of a better viewing spot. We justified the late night by A) the fact that the kids would only be sleepy for one school day before fall break and B) how many chances are there to see the Northern Lights from our neck of the woods?

We drove about half an hour to the west to get away from the city lights and to see if the sky was awake. When we found a quiet country road, we pulled over and turned off the lights. As we stepped out, there wasn’t a whole lot to see with the naked eye, but we’d heard that snapping a picture with a camera would pick up on colors we couldn’t otherwise see.

We were not disappointed! The lights were definitely dancing in graceful, if muted, ribbons above us. When I showed the first group pictures of the kids to them, they were immediately enchanted by the thrill of it all. Eventually, we could see a greenish hue to the night sky, but nothing compared to the camera. It was a good half an hour of posing, reviewing photos, and sharing with friends and family before we got back in the car to go home.

Even as far south as we were, the Aurora Borealis did not disappoint. Better though, was the overall excitement as we admired the celestial event–it’s not often that we’re sleepy and stuffed in the van that everyone is in such a good mood. Thanks to the magic of the evening, with all its meanings, the experience most definitely has solidified as a happy anchor memory that will last us all a lifetime.