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Aurora
* At the end of August 1998 we stopped in a tiny place called Little Fort for the night. (about half way between Vancouver and Jasper in Canada) I got up about midnight to look at the sky. It was glowing and I cursed because I thought it was light pollution but then I realised it was an aurora. It was magic watching it reflect off the river nearby but I kept close to the car because there was a bear bin by the river and the local papers had stories about bears causing problems in town.
* In September 2000 we spent a weekend at Talkeetna in Alaska. When I was driving back at 1am from observing the first night I wondered why the writing on the road was upsidedown. Suddenly I realised I was on the wrong side of the road - jet lag.
* A couple of nights later we were at Fairbanks and I went out about 2am looking for an aurora. Drove out of town towards a place called North Pole and stopped to have a look at the sky. There was no aurora but a car that was following me stopped about 100m behind me. I got in and kept driving and he kept following me. I did a U turn at an intersection and blue lights started flashing on top of this car. The cop wanted to see my license which was back at the motel. He said you get locked up in Alaska if you drive without a license but luckily he let me off. Next morning we drove down the same road and there was a baby bear where I had stopped to look at the aurora. Didn't see the bear's mum but she was probably nearby.
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