Over Memorial Day weekend we took a road trip up to eastern B.C. and the Kootenais. The plan was to camp and drive; really that was the extent of it. Over two days we made our way east through Washington state, took a left at Spokane, WA and drove north to the boarder. The weather was unseasonably warm so we stopped off at Sullivan Lake to take a dip also known as a camp bath. So far so good. We were off on the kind of trip you see in a Subaru commercial. Except we drive a Toyota
We ended up in Nelson, B.C. for a night and made our way along the coast of Kootenai Lake. It. Was. Beautiful. Absolutely stunning.
The last night of our 6 day trip, and the eve of my birthday, we had heard that the Auroras were supposed to be good that night. The night before they were so strong that people could see them over the Seattle skyline and we weren't there to see it! ALL I wanted was to see the Auroras. I couldn't think of a better gift from Mother Nature and I became anxious to secure a clear north facing view in the hopes that I could see the show of a lifetime.
We stumbled on this amazing campground that was largely empty and parked our tent on a north facing spot near the water. I was in absolute heaven. We built a fire and watched the sun set. To me this place was paradise. We enjoyed a few pieces of birthday cake that we had picked up from a bakery in Nelson. Stu stuck a match in my flourless chocolate cake and sang Happy Birthday. Easily one of the most romantic moments of our relationship.
After the sunset we put the coffee on, I was determined to stay up as late as possible to catch the Auroras. We pulled our camp chairs down to the beach and sipped our coffee and some marshmallows as the milky-way camp out. I set up my camera so I would be ready and we waited. We waited for a long time.
Stu didn't last long. By mid-night he was passed out in his camp chair. Not me. I sat in that chair, looking up at the sky, anxiously waiting like a kid at Christmas. I was too afraid to blink incase I might have missed a glimpse of the auroras. At what I think was about 2am, I saw some hazy green 'clouds' in the sky but it was hard to tell if it was real or if my mind had wished for the auroras so hard that I started hallucinating them as a way for my body to finally give up and go to bed.
I fired a shot from my camera and saw the magenta and the green on the screen once the picture rendered. I was so excited! I was jumping up and down on the beach in the dark, alone, totally happy with my birthday gift even if I had to half hallucinate it to enjoy it and all I could think was... I'm the luckiest!
The next morning, I rolled out of my tent to the lake and the mountians and thought, it took 33 years but I finally got this birthday thing right.
