Arrived in Alaska late afternoon on March 15th, took a cab to the Westmark and checked in. Had dinner in … no photos of food. That tells you everything you need to know about the dinner.

We kept a watch until after ten to see if there would be a display of the Aurora Borealis; nothing. What I learned during the photography workshop was that you have to get out of Fairbanks to where there is a dark sky, there can be no clouds, and then you wait, of course, in a cold car for hours to see if the Auroras show. Also, I didn’t realize the color in the lights is rarely visible; the long exposure lets the color show up in the images.

Woke on the 16th to below-zero temperatures and decided to stay in the room until it warmed up to 5 degrees, then go out and photograph for a couple of hours. It was strange to be in snow after living in Phoenix for almost 38 years. I had a good time, but I was very conscious of slipping. I have no desire to break a hip on this trip.

We were back at the hotel in about 2 hours. Hugh spent part of his time inside a museum. I’m not certain whether he was interested in the exhibits, but I KNOW he was interested in staying warm. When we got back to the hotel, we found out the hotel restaurants were closed for the night because they had no water. We walked over to the co-op and purchased dinner and some food to have in the room. We had a quiet night.

No Northern Lights were predicted for the night.