It's been in the upper 50s to almost 70 (!!) for the past week or more. I think I've forgotten when it rained last - we even have burn bans in place right now. It's been one spectacularly sunny day after another. This weekend was no exception and we made the most of it - grilling for dinner Saturday and Sunday, bonfire on the beach with the most incredible northern lights I've ever seen, long walks with Seca. It's hard to go back to school this morning!
Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me Saturday night to capture the northern lights. We wre on a south/southeast facing beach and they were directly overhead. And they were out early, about 10:30 pm, before it was even fully dark out. They started as a green streak across the sky then were pulsating and twisting, with streaks green changing into red and an almost purple color. They are also the fastest moving I've ever seen. Most of the time they seem to move so slowly you think your eyes are playing tricks on you (at least the ones I've seen). These were winding and morphing quickly, almost like a heartbeat. So. Amazing.
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| Seca swimming in Mendenhall Lake, Nugget falls in the background. |
Sunday Seca and I went to West Glacier for a walk on the beach. It was warm out but the breeze coming off the glacier and still partially frozen lake was pretty chilly. Seca still went for a swim (crazy dog...yes, that is ice still on the lake!). Even in winter, water flows under the lake ice. It comes from off of the glacier and from a couple of nearby streams and it leaves via the Mendenhall River, which empties into the Gastineau Channel. Since there's so much water moving the icebergs that are embedded in the lake ice move too. The water pushes and erodes from the bottom, so they scoot along, and the lake ice must move around quite a bit too...check out this boulder that left a trail as it was moved by ice this winter!
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