Wednesday, March 24, 2010

End of Day 6 in Alaska

Final day... finished the morning with one last aurora lecture by Jim Burke of the Planetary Society.  Afterwards we headed out to the University of Alaska Museum of the North (www.uaf.edu/museum) and then to the Large Animal Research Station (www.uaf.edu/lars)where we checked out some musk oxen and caribou.

Early in the evening we had our farewell dinner, followed by a visit to the Fairbanks Curling Club (www.curlfairbanks.org), where a few of our group had a chance to try this difficult sport. I, of course, have trouble remaining upright on solid ground, so I didn't go out onto the ice.

Evening ended with our last trip to SkiLand where we waited under totally cloudy skies for about four hours before giving up and heading back to the hotel.

Out of fifteen aurora trips this is the first time I've been completely skunked. Not even a wisp of green light in the sky while we were out there--others, of course, saw them, but they were out later than we were.  This is the limitation of being with a group, where some people are interested in staying out and others want to give up. 

Next year I should have two trips to Alaska, and will plan on spending some time on my own as well to make sure I come back with some new photos!

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