Today I pack my bags and head west to Coeur D'Alene, ID (I'm actually staying in Spokane Valley, WA which is 30 minutes west). This past stop at Glacier National Park will be the furthest north I will go on this trip. It is also the furthest north I have been in North America. Interestingly enough, I have been to Seattle, WA and Quebec, Canada, both of which, I found out, are further south. As it turns out Rugby, ND was further north than Kalispell. However, I was so far north in Montana that I was only 13 minutes from the Canadian border, where as Rugby was still 45 minutes away from the border. If I didn't have a 4 hour drive the day I was in Many Glacier, I would have gone and had some Canadian lunch!
While driving back from Glacier the first day, I heard on the radio something about the Northern Lights being more visible from more southern locations this week. I always forget about the Northern Lights as a phenomenon. I have never lived in a place where I was able to see them, so it just isn't on my immediate radar as a possibility. When we were in Rugby, ND, it actually dawned on me how north we were and we asked our local friends if they could see them, to which they told us occasionally. I think we tried to see them, but we were not successful. I have tried numerous times to see them (including getting a cabin out in the middle of nowhere in northern Iceland and waking up every hour to run outside and check), but I have never been so lucky. Obviously, I wasn't going to miss this chance in Kalispell! I drove out after dark to a state park near my hotel. I didn't get cell service to check in on the conditions or the Northern Lights forecast, so after a half hour - I went back. I also woke up several times throughout the night the last two nights but I didn't see anything either. Someday I'll see them and they will totally be worth all of the missed sleep!
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