Northern Lights

Calgary, AB

February 18

The weather was so good.  The sky was clear.  I was on my way to Hay River, which is located in Northwest Territories.  We decided to go to Hay River because the hostel feel is much cheaper than Yellowknife.  Six people joined the trip, Caspar, Dero, Sohta, Fumi, and Jenny.  We got three drivers.  I was driver No.1.  That was my first time to drive in Canada.  Even though it was a little bit boring during the drive, I still enjoyed it.  During the drive, I saw some wild animals.  I was so happy.  After twelve hours driving, we arrived at High Level, AB.  We stayed at BCM Inns for the night.

Hay River, NT

February 19

It was not far from High Level to Hay River.  We spent around five hours to get there.  For me, that was the closest place to the North Pole I’ve ever been.  Caspar made lunch and dinner for us.  When night was coming, all of us were looking forward to seeing northern lights!  We took turns to stay in the living room and waited for northern lights.  Unfortunately, none of us could see any lights until morning!

Hay River, NT

February 20

The second day in Hay River.  It was snowing!  It’s hard to see northern lights on snowing day.  It was too bad!  In addition, we couldn’t have any activities in Hay River.  We were going to have dog sled ride, but they had a competition.  Dogs were too busy to serve us!  What a pity!  All we could do was pray and watch videos.  Night was coming again.  The owner suggested us to check the sky outside, not just stay in the house.  After dinner, we took the owner’s suggestion.  Around 8:30PM, Jenny went out to check.  Suddenly, she shouted:”Dolby!  Everybody come out quickly!!  Northern Lights!!  Northern Lights!!”  That was emergency time!!  I put on jacket and boots as soon as possible!!  Ran outside right away, and I even forgot to bring my camera!  I could see northern lights in the sky.  It was white.  It looked totally different with the pictures.  It was green in the pictures.  Beside, we saw red northern lights on the other side.  So amazing!!  We were so happy, even though northern lights were not strong and disappeared in 20 minutes.  I think 20 minutes was just the right time, because it was so cold outside!!  I couldn’t stay outside anymore!!  Anyway, we were so lucky, weren’t we? 

Jasper, AB

February 21

We waked up early this morning, because next stop was Jasper.  It was another long driving.  We spent most of our time in the car, including lunch time.  When we arrived at Jasper, it was almost 9:00PM.  What we need was to take a hot shower, and go to bed.

Banff, AB

February 22

Before we leave Jasper, we went to see the Ice Field.  Although it was not open at winter, we still took pictures at the entrance.  After that, we departed to Banff.  It was on our way home.  We just stopped there for lunch, and then went back to Calgary.  We all felt happy that we did it!!  I’ll never ever forget this trip.