Northern Lights

Don and I have been talking about returning to Smiths Falls since we stayed there the weekend we ran the Kilt Race. It is a cute town. When I came home I signed up for weekly emails describing the events taking place in the town. Fall seemed the perfect time to visit. A chance to see the town in a different season. The weekend before Halloween they had a lot of events scheduled...a Zombie walk, Haunted Heritage House, a costume party. 

It sounded idyllic. The emails talk of a town I wish was closer, one we could move to. Everyone we talked to was relaxed and open. People I'd love to live near.

For a couple of reasons we didn't make it the weekend before Halloween. Instead we saw "Phantom of the Opera" with Dave and Scottie, The War of the Worlds bike ride, and the Great Emu War. It turned into a very busy weekend.

We drove up a couple of weeks later on November 11 for an overnight. I wish we had gone up a day earlier to participate in their Remembrance Day ceremony. As we saw in Australia last year, Canada honors their veterans more than we seem to do in the United States. At the border crossing we fumbled explaining (honestly) we were only coming up for an overnight. After a struggle with the border guard he begrudgingly let us in. I agree, our explanation sounded weak. With NEXUS, though, I thought we had been screened so thoroughly we didn't need to explain ourselves when we cross the border. "Because we want to" should be good enough. When I am holding myself back from saying "because I feel calmer in your country, because Smiths Falls is my happy place, because the US is messed up and I need to be around sanity." I didn't think those reasons would really fly.

We missed fall. On November 9 it snowed five inches. Early, even by their standards.

Instead, it was winter. 

The day was magical. The things we didn't get a chance to do in June, we did in November. We toured the Heritage House Museum. We visited a couple more thrift stores. We stopped in the new site of a bulk store we wish we could clone in Lawrenceville. The owner remembered us from the fall.

The real bonus surprise of the trip was seeing the Northern Lights. 

As we were finishing our dinner at The Vault Eatery and Pub I overheard a woman at the table next to us say "aurora borealis." She received an alert that they would be exceptionally active that night. We had already been bonding over her friend's baby Elijah. I learned which app she uses (My Aurora) which has a cloud coverage feature, and one that has pinpoints where others have seen it.

As you can see in this screenshot most of the country is covered in clouds, but there we a small break between Smiths Falls and Ottawa. 

As we headed in the direction we could see faint colors in the sky. As I learned in Iceland in 2016, and again in New Jersey in 2024, the lights looks more stunning through the lens of a camera, especially an iPhone. 

As I looked out the car window I could see faint colors in the sky so we paused at the side of the road. The shoulder had snow in it. The temperature was in the low-30s --warmer than when we saw them in Iceland, but colder than we are used to this time of year.

Feeling unsafe on the side of the road, though only two cars passed us, and with the clouds catching up to us, we kept trying to outrun it without finding the bright lights of Ottawa. The woman at dinner said it was hard to find a really dark place. I nearly laughed at her. It is darker in Ontario and on the road to Ottawa than anyplace in Central Jersey.

Another pause by the side of the road as we looked for the pinpoint on the app:

It was so faint, we drove to the pinpoint. It turned out to be an icy parking lot by a golf course. The original poster got out of his car and walked into the middle of the golf course for an even darker view. I wasn't that brave. I was glad we packed the Yak Trax so I could get out of the car and looked around the car.

The lights went so far up

It looked like a water coloring

Every time I see the Northern Lights, I gain a bigger appreciation for why our Icelandic guide, Runar, chases them every chance he gets. They do feel magical.

The trip home through border control was much easier. We switched seats. I talked to the border agent. When he asked why we went to Canada, I said we were chasing the Northern Lights and saw them in a clearing on the way to Ottawa. I asked if he saw it and we ended up talking about how unfair it is you can only see them through the lens of a camera. Next thing I knew, we were back in the United States with Don shaking his head and saying I'm in charge of always talking to border control agents. We all need some skill. I guess that's mine.

PS: I later read the Northern Lights were visible from 49 out of 50 states (just not in Hawaii). Guess we didn't have to travel so far to see them, but based on my friends' pictures, we saw reds and greens and they saw pinks and less vibrant colors.