For my 40th birthday, I decided to tackle one of my long-standing bucket list items-the Aurora Borealis. I’d had a failed attempt in 2015: four nights in Northern Finland that, though sheer cosmic bad luck, landed during a rare quiet period in solar activity.
Tromsø was my redemption, I booked a long Thanksgiving weekend, arriving on the first day of Polar Night (when the sun never rises past the horizon for months on end).
Our first night, on Thanksgiving Day, we chased the Lights on a private tour. Though, I’d admit, it was not the WOW I had anticipated. What looked like pale, shifting clouds turned green in the camera lens. For the next couple of days, my friend and I discussed the disconnect – was that it? It wasn’t exactly the curtain of lights I’d imagined.
We spend a few more nights in Tromsø, attending a Christmas Concert at the Arctic Cathedral – one of the more magical evenings of the trip.
On our last night, armed with the knowledge of what to actually look for, we finally saw the green ribbon hanging above the glittering lights of Tromsø below us.
In the end, the auroras we saw were relatively modest – beautiful but not the spectacle I’d built in my head. The Total Solar Eclipse still ranks number 1 on my list of most awe-inspiring experiences. …But I’m still holding out for a level 5 Aurora.