Fox Pup's AK Vacation - Day 5: A Little of This… a Little of That

We were told that the northern lights were supposed to be very good last night.  Our host said she usually checks for them before going to bed and again at 3am, and she asked one of us to get up at 1am to check.  I volunteered, but when I looked at 1am, all I could see was a very faint band of maybe greenish light across the sky.  Much more striking were all the stars… the big dipper was bigger and brighter than I’ve ever seen before.  I expected to be woken up at 3am with better lights, but instead I woke up in the morning.  Apparently the lights weren’t nearly as good as they were expected to be, but what I saw at 1am was in fact the lights, albeit very faint. 

Breakfast this morning was “moose ears and nuggets”… very tasty!  We then set out into town and explored the botanical garden at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.  We were able to get a lot of flower photos since the weather has remained so warm and sunny this far into September.  We then explored a fabric store… did some laundry… and got some ice cream at a place named “Hot Licks”.  We heard Pioneer Park would be great to explore, so we went to check it out.  Turns out… most of it is already closed so we didn’t spend much time there.  We did a little shopping and explored the Visitor’s Center… and then went to the historic “Pump House” for dinner. 

At the end of yet another spectacular day, I learned that the weather in Wichita hasn’t been quite as quiet as here in Alaska.  A severe thunderstorm brought up to softball size hail to parts of Wichita… including where my car is patiently awaiting my return.  I guess I get to work on fixing that one before moving to Alaska in a couple weeks.  What interesting timing!