Dinner AND a show

Went out to Chana hot springs after supper last night, which is about 60 miles out of Fairbanks, and open until midnight. Water was at 102 degrees and car dash was showing 25 while we were driving up there, so a nice contrast of temperatures when you moved in and out of the water. And as we had hoped and planned by coming up to alaska this late in the season the aurora is starting to show a little activity. We saw some bands across the sky while we were in the springs between the clouds of steam - not as bright as these google image photos, but they give the general idea of what we saw. I would describe them as bands or ribbons that appear and fade over a course of a few seconds to a couple of minutes, sometimes like wispy clouds, other times more definite

and then driving back slowly we stopped at a few vantage points and were rewarded with a period of more activity with them sort of dancing vertically - more like sheets of light or fire, as if there were powerful searchlights over the hill. And definitely green.