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The Aurora Borealis

Gini in a Bottle

The Aurora Borealis

Al Gini

My wife loves to travel. And she especially loves to travel to unusual and out of the way places. So, over the years I’ve found myself in the Peru climbing to see Machu Pichu, gorilla tracking in Uganda, barging down the river in Borneo, diving on the Great Barrier Reef, babysitting Pandas in Central China, climbing a volcano in Iceland, and out running elephants in Tanzania.

Recently she announced that we were going to see the Aurora Borealis. I, of course, said sure, little knowing all that that was involved. Our destination was the Northwest Territory of Canada, and it take two planes and over eight hours to get there. Three thousand miles, almost due west of Chicago, we finally landed in the picturesque mining town of Yellowknife, population 19,234, and 250 miles south of the Arctic Circle. When we landed it was 24 degrees below zero! We were picked up by our guide and our outfitter at the airport and we were immediately issued four inch thick goose down coats, goose down pants, thermal faceguards, long underwear, thick socks, and boots that had three inch rubberized soles on them to protect our feet against the frost-bite. Let me be clear, it wasn’t just cold, it was numbing cold, enervating cold, and after more than ten minutes outside, downright painful cold!

Here’s what we did. For two nights, it was supposed to be three nights but I chickened out, between 9:00pm and 1:30am-we were taken out to the tundra to witness the Northern Lights. To combat the cold, tents with fire pits were erected so that we could run in and out of the cold. Got to admit, the phenomenon of the lights is spectacular, amazing, and an unbelievable experience. But, it would be even more spectacular, if they could best be seen from the sands of Key West Florida!

However, I did learn a few important lessons from our exciting and different trip. I am never ever going to the South Pole! And the only type of skiing I’m going to do from now on is water skiing in the Bahamas!

 

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