The Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights are probably the most amazing things I’ve seen to date on my nursing travel adventures. March 17/15, the one night I had off between 7 night shifts was reported by CBC to be an amazing display of the lights across the country (and world).
But I better start at how I spent that one and only day off in a week, I woke up around 5pm after missing my 3pm alarm and reluctantly went out to the Drunken Goat Taverna for dinner and drinks with co workers. I say reluctantly because after doing 4 night shifts I felt dead, and didn’t want to do much of anything, and also woke up feeling crappy - all my nurse co workers know what post-night-shift-try-to-get-back-to-normal-routine I’m talking about. Showering often helps, and it did this time. Man am I ever glad I went out that night!
I had drinks (maybe a few too many, but it was St.Paddy’s Day!) and some awesome food at the goat with some co workers and then Maggie and I made our way to Bombay Peggy’s since I hadn’t been there yet. Bombay Peggy’s was a brothel and bootlegging business back in the 1940’s. It got moved to a different part of town and restored into a historic inn and pub where you can go in for a drink or stay for a few days. "When it officially opened in 2000, a Father from St. Mary’s Catholic Church performed a blessing for the old whore house” is a direct quote from the Bombay Peggy website hahaha makes ya chuckle! The pub is dark and painted in a rich red/burgundy colour, totally what you would picture of a brothel back in the 1940’s. Their martini menu has some pretty awesome names for their drinks like: “Spank my naughty ass", "Brazen Hussy", "Easy Lai", "50 Below Job", and "Chastity Belt” - haha so great!
Well, I got off track with Bombay Peggy’s but I had to fill you in on their background! Maggie found some people she met over the weekend when out for Thaw Di Gras. In Peggy’s were 2 guys up working on filming Klondike Trappers, a show similar to Yukon Gold on the History Channel. Maggie so boldly asked if we could tag along when one guy mentioned they were heading up to the dome to catch the amazing light display that has been forecasted for the night. Everyone here is so nice, and really, the worst he could have said was no - but they didn’t!! They let us tag a long on their adventure up the dome in the dark! The Midnight Dome is a lookout here in Dawson. You can see the Yukon River, the Klondike Valley, Bonanza Creek, Top of the World Highway and Ogilvie Mountains. Now, we went up at 11pm so it was dark, but just absolutely beautiful. Once the haze, or ice fog seemed to lift, it was so bright and you could definitely see those sites. The stars were just wild, I’ve never seen so many stars, and satellites flying across the sky. Orion’s Belt is so easily visible here, the first constellation I always find, and when you look up from Dawson’s town it doesn’t seem so far away. But when you’re on the Dome, you’re literally looking straight out to it, such a neat experience. I felt like was on top of the world, just breathtaking. And we hadn’t even caught the best of the lights yet!
We were out there from 11pm-2am, and while the lights were active the whole time, there was one period where they just went wild! One of the 4 people we went up with brought their camera (fancy film worthy camera) to catch shots and recordings for the show. Luckily, he was awesome to let us in on some photos, I can’t wait to get them and share them, and also frame them! We had little photoshoot up there! They’re incredible!! While we almost froze up there, when the lights are swirling, twirling, dancing and prancing (some lame descriptive words, but they were every single one of them! haha) across the sky in bright green, blue, white and pink you just forget about the cold. You forgot about everything and just watch, in awe and in silence, this absolutely amazing natural phenomenon. So incredible. It is really, really hard to explain how it makes you feel watching them, feeling like they’re falling on top of you and like you can reach out and grab them. There’s an incredible energy about them and it never gets old for me. It also makes you question your vision, it feels so crazy watching them and you wonder if your eyes are playing tricks on you. These words just don’t do it justice, I wish I could have stayed up there forever, and I wish I could be up there tonight as the lights are still putting on an incredible show!
I’ve been cursing myself for not having a tripod to capture the lights and all their glory. I’ve gotten some OK shots by holding the camera but definitely not the quality I would have with a tripod. Oh well, maybe it’s the universe’s way of telling me I need to come back sometime and have the tripod in tow. BUT tonight on my nightshift, I had a pretty awesome idea….. grab things from work that will prop up my camera! A towel and a blanket worked perfectly. After some fiddling with my camera settings (which our friends from the dome so awesomely educated me on for perfect photos of the lights), I propped it up and let the camera do it’s thing to catch Aurora’s beauty. AND IT WORKED!!! I got some pretty cool shots from town, and only wished I could be up on the dome for more shots!
So one big blessing on the past 3-4 wks of nights… the northern lights! It sure makes it a lot easier when you can pop outside and catch a free, totally natural light show! I hope you guys at home were able to catch the storm too! Ive seen pictures from all over Canada and can’t believe how powerful they have been the last few days. It sure makes leaving Dawson City a lot harder. What a beautiful place. Robert Service was totally accurate with his poem “The Spell of the Yukon”; just a short quote:
“There’s gold, and its haunting and haunting;
It’s luring me on as of old;
Yet it isn’t the gold that I’m wanting
So much as just finding the gold.
It’s the great, big, broad land ‘way up yonder,
It’s the forests where silence has lease;
It’s the beauty that thrills me with wonder,
It’s the stillness that fills me with peace.”
The poem’s got much more to it, but I love that last stanza. It is a beautiful place, and his words are much better than mine!
Check out my photos! Hope you like them! I’m improving and can’t wait to come back, tripod and all : )
Miss you all and see you in April!!
I have a mere 7 shifts and 11 days left up here in Dawson. It’s certainly bittersweet, I’m ready for change and home again, but have absolutely loved my time here and the people I’ve met. A summer contract may be in store…….!
But I better start at how I spent that one and only day off in a week, I woke up around 5pm after missing my 3pm alarm and reluctantly went out to the Drunken Goat Taverna for dinner and drinks with co workers. I say reluctantly because after doing 4 night shifts I felt dead, and didn’t want to do much of anything, and also woke up feeling crappy - all my nurse co workers know what post-night-shift-try-to-get-back-to-normal-routine I’m talking about. Showering often helps, and it did this time. Man am I ever glad I went out that night!
I had drinks (maybe a few too many, but it was St.Paddy’s Day!) and some awesome food at the goat with some co workers and then Maggie and I made our way to Bombay Peggy’s since I hadn’t been there yet. Bombay Peggy’s was a brothel and bootlegging business back in the 1940’s. It got moved to a different part of town and restored into a historic inn and pub where you can go in for a drink or stay for a few days. "When it officially opened in 2000, a Father from St. Mary’s Catholic Church performed a blessing for the old whore house” is a direct quote from the Bombay Peggy website hahaha makes ya chuckle! The pub is dark and painted in a rich red/burgundy colour, totally what you would picture of a brothel back in the 1940’s. Their martini menu has some pretty awesome names for their drinks like: “Spank my naughty ass", "Brazen Hussy", "Easy Lai", "50 Below Job", and "Chastity Belt” - haha so great!
Well, I got off track with Bombay Peggy’s but I had to fill you in on their background! Maggie found some people she met over the weekend when out for Thaw Di Gras. In Peggy’s were 2 guys up working on filming Klondike Trappers, a show similar to Yukon Gold on the History Channel. Maggie so boldly asked if we could tag along when one guy mentioned they were heading up to the dome to catch the amazing light display that has been forecasted for the night. Everyone here is so nice, and really, the worst he could have said was no - but they didn’t!! They let us tag a long on their adventure up the dome in the dark! The Midnight Dome is a lookout here in Dawson. You can see the Yukon River, the Klondike Valley, Bonanza Creek, Top of the World Highway and Ogilvie Mountains. Now, we went up at 11pm so it was dark, but just absolutely beautiful. Once the haze, or ice fog seemed to lift, it was so bright and you could definitely see those sites. The stars were just wild, I’ve never seen so many stars, and satellites flying across the sky. Orion’s Belt is so easily visible here, the first constellation I always find, and when you look up from Dawson’s town it doesn’t seem so far away. But when you’re on the Dome, you’re literally looking straight out to it, such a neat experience. I felt like was on top of the world, just breathtaking. And we hadn’t even caught the best of the lights yet!
We were out there from 11pm-2am, and while the lights were active the whole time, there was one period where they just went wild! One of the 4 people we went up with brought their camera (fancy film worthy camera) to catch shots and recordings for the show. Luckily, he was awesome to let us in on some photos, I can’t wait to get them and share them, and also frame them! We had little photoshoot up there! They’re incredible!! While we almost froze up there, when the lights are swirling, twirling, dancing and prancing (some lame descriptive words, but they were every single one of them! haha) across the sky in bright green, blue, white and pink you just forget about the cold. You forgot about everything and just watch, in awe and in silence, this absolutely amazing natural phenomenon. So incredible. It is really, really hard to explain how it makes you feel watching them, feeling like they’re falling on top of you and like you can reach out and grab them. There’s an incredible energy about them and it never gets old for me. It also makes you question your vision, it feels so crazy watching them and you wonder if your eyes are playing tricks on you. These words just don’t do it justice, I wish I could have stayed up there forever, and I wish I could be up there tonight as the lights are still putting on an incredible show!
I’ve been cursing myself for not having a tripod to capture the lights and all their glory. I’ve gotten some OK shots by holding the camera but definitely not the quality I would have with a tripod. Oh well, maybe it’s the universe’s way of telling me I need to come back sometime and have the tripod in tow. BUT tonight on my nightshift, I had a pretty awesome idea….. grab things from work that will prop up my camera! A towel and a blanket worked perfectly. After some fiddling with my camera settings (which our friends from the dome so awesomely educated me on for perfect photos of the lights), I propped it up and let the camera do it’s thing to catch Aurora’s beauty. AND IT WORKED!!! I got some pretty cool shots from town, and only wished I could be up on the dome for more shots!
So one big blessing on the past 3-4 wks of nights… the northern lights! It sure makes it a lot easier when you can pop outside and catch a free, totally natural light show! I hope you guys at home were able to catch the storm too! Ive seen pictures from all over Canada and can’t believe how powerful they have been the last few days. It sure makes leaving Dawson City a lot harder. What a beautiful place. Robert Service was totally accurate with his poem “The Spell of the Yukon”; just a short quote:
“There’s gold, and its haunting and haunting;
It’s luring me on as of old;
Yet it isn’t the gold that I’m wanting
So much as just finding the gold.
It’s the great, big, broad land ‘way up yonder,
It’s the forests where silence has lease;
It’s the beauty that thrills me with wonder,
It’s the stillness that fills me with peace.”
The poem’s got much more to it, but I love that last stanza. It is a beautiful place, and his words are much better than mine!
Check out my photos! Hope you like them! I’m improving and can’t wait to come back, tripod and all : )
Miss you all and see you in April!!
I have a mere 7 shifts and 11 days left up here in Dawson. It’s certainly bittersweet, I’m ready for change and home again, but have absolutely loved my time here and the people I’ve met. A summer contract may be in store…….!