Finding Aurora

Finding Aurora

I’ve always had a bit of a daredevil in me. Dark forests and eroded dirt roads don’t scare me. They inspire.

The prospect of driving North, into the dark of night, was a break from a typical Saturday night. After all, when does one get to witness the Aurora Borealis in our neck of the woods?

Bobby was the designated driver, as I was in charge of finding a dark area where the phenomenon would appear - possibly between 10:00 PM and 10:30 PM EDT.

Off we went, into the night, driving North until we came to Greenwood Lake.

It was desolate. As expected, the park was closed, but it would have been a cinch to walk right into the park.

My crazy self figured that neither Jason, Michael , or a black bear would bother with me. I’m not a hot teenager, and had no ham sandwiches on me. (I think that’s what that old lady was making in “Halloween.”)

“Pull over,” I asked.

“No.”

“I can sneak in and find the observation area,” I pleaded.

“No. Are you inspired to write again?”

“Not yet.  I’m depressed and on a quest.”

“Okay.  Let’s drive down further and see if there’s another way into the park.”

We drove, silent, until the end of the road.  This sign is what we found.

“Should I turn?”

“No….But, I want to take a picture of the sign. At least it’s shows we’re in the middle of nowhere.”

As fate would have it, I had to wait for 2 cars to pass by before I could run out of the car and snap this Blip.  Even if the Northern Lights had appeared, my iPhone would not have been able to capture its beauty.

I needed a piece of memorabilia.

Later, we learned that Planet Earth only got clipped by the geomagnetic sun storm, which was gratefully un-named by NOAH.

We got gipped.

It would have been easier to have made our way back to Aurora, Illinois and  appeared on Wayne’s World.

“Party on, Wayne!”

“Party on, Garth!”

“Excellent!”

“I think I’m gonna hurl!”

Much love,

Mel