Last night, Eli and I took Nanny and Papa out for a very Northern experience, and Gramma and Grampum stayed at our place with the sleeping girls.
It was a bit of a birthday gift for Eli, too (his birthday was March 1). I have not forgotten to write about Eli's birthday... really... but, I need a few pictures from his BlackBerry to really illustrate a part of the story, so you will have to wait until tomorrow to read about his birthday, because he is ice fishing today.
I booked a dog sledding tour to a remote cabin so we could view the Northern Lights with Beck's Kennels before Nanny and Papa arrived.
The night was cool (around -25 degrees Celsius), but there was no wind, so dressing warmly kept us cosy and comfortable.
This is the sled that we sat in for the ride.
Along with the four of us, three other visitors were along for the same ride.
On the way to the cabin, Eli got to stand on the back of the sled with the musher, which was pretty cool... I mean cold.
We sat with one person at the back, and each person nestled in front.
The sled is lined with warm blankets, so it was a cosy cushy ride.
There are about 100 dogs at Beck's Kennels, and were they every eager!
You should have heard the anticipation and eager barking and howling, as the dogs waited to see if they would be chosen for the run.
We had a team of 14 dogs pull the sled, and they barked and howled right up until the musher gave the "go" command, which was "hike."
As soon as the dogs got that command, they TOOK OFF, with not a sound to be heard except their feet hitting snow until they got to their destination.
The musher made a kissing sound to speed up, and said "gee" for turn right, and "haw" for left.
I was sitting in the very front of the sled, so this is a little video (terrible quality, really), that will give you a sense of what it was like on the sled, travelling onto the ice and snow-covered lakes.
Then... AWE.
I brought my good camera with the wide angle lens, but my night vision, even with my glasses, is so crappy and you absolutely must set the focus manually, so I am afraid that we are out of focus in many of the pictures, but, really the aurora borealis is the star of this blog.
Under normal circumstances, I do not trust myself to use manual focus just because of my vision, and this is why. Oh, to have 20-20 vision!
Hello, Aurora!
Our sled under the cold Northern night sky.
The rustic cabin that we could warm up inside.
A view looking towards the very mild glow from the city (which is almost invisible to the eye, but shows up in pictures).
The dogs are relaxing in their little kennels placed on the lake.
Here are the four of us on the hill in front of the cabin with Aurora showing off behind us.
You could lay on the snow and hear total peace.
Eli and me
Here, I set the ISO high (3200), and the shutter speed long, to let in as much light as possible here, so the sky looks much much lighter than it was (I assure that it was nearly midnight).
The aurora takes up the whole sky, and never stops moving.
Papa and Nanny
I snapped this shot just as we were leaving.
Our trip ran from about 8 pm to 1 am, and just as we arrived back at the kennels, the sky was beginning to cloud over, so we were very fortunate to see the Aurora display that we did.
On Sunday afternoon, we are going back to take the girls for a traditional ride (not at night) on the lake.
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