“Girls come on, get out of bed!” exclaimed my mom as she swung open the door to our bedroom. “Get your coats on let’s go!” she urged. Carmen and I got ready to leave, but we still had no idea where we were going. When we got downstairs, our mom was headed outside with an armful of blankets.
“What are we doing?” we asked her.
“It was on the news! We going to see the Northern Lights!”
Now we could see the reason for her excitement. Whenever websites had indicated we could see the Northern Lights, we had tried but without success. But because the local news said they were visible, we had a better chance of seeing them. My dad was skeptical, so he decided to stay home. We drove out of town, looking for a good place stop and look for the northern lights. As we pulled onto a small country road to park, Carmen saw a red glow in the sky.
“Is that the lights of Lincoln?” she asked.
“Not if it’s in the north,” answered my mom.
She parked the car and we got out. We looked north and saw a patch of red in the sky, that faded in the middle where a porch light blocked out the red light.
“No, that’s definitely not Lincoln.” I said.
We watched the Northern Lights slowly ripple and sway. It wasn’t like anything you might see farther north, but it was still an amazing sight.
A couple years later, as Carmen and I were getting ready for bed, the phone rang.
“Who would be calling so late?” My mom wondered. It turned out it was a friend of hers telling us the Northern Lights were visible that night!
We all went out to the car; this time our dad decided to come too. We kept looking north, hoping to see the Northern Lights, and soon after we had left Lincoln, we spotted them. Carmen, my mom and I kept our eyes on the greenish glow ahead of us, and encouraged our dad to concentrate on driving. The car had swerved slightly a few times, due to him glancing up from the road. My dad parked on a country road. This time, there was no porch light to block anything out. We hurried out of the car and gazed at the sky. It was lit up with a gleaming, pale green arch. We continued to stare at the sky, but quickly became aware of how cold it was. Carmen and I grabbed blankets and hoisted ourselves on top of the car, while our parents spread blankets on the ground. Splotches of green light flashed and danced above us, and the giant arch waved gracefully.
It was getting late, so we decided to head back. We looked out the back window at the sky as we drove towards Lincoln, until the lights faded from view. Seeing the Northern Lights this far south is unusual and it’s an experience I’ll never forget.