Pics or It Didn't Happen - Seattle's Aurora

016: Last weekend, Seattle experienced a phenomenon that last occurred more than 20 years ago. But know what didn’t exist 20 years ago? Our incredibly powerful smart phone cameras. The Aurora Borealis took over everyone’s social media feeds from Seattle to Portland. Dark skies painted with green and pink streaks across it. But was this all a scam?

I have never seen a more “Instagrammable” event in my entire life. I’m sure thousands of people woke up on Saturday morning, opened their IG feeds and quickly learned they missed something really big. The Northern Lights is one of those bucket list worthy sights The chance to see it is so rare. And when you look at the event on IG, you would think that the sky was dancing with rainbows. But for those of us who saw it, we know it was not like that.

On Friday night I got a snapchat from my little brother around 1130pm. It was a photo from his back porch in Kirkland, of a sky that looked more like a sunset than a midnight moonscape. My sister followed with another set of photos from her home in North Idaho. Amanda and I ran outside to check if we had a view. We walked out to the street and could see some light flashes of pink across the dark sky. So we jumped in our car and drove down to Lake Washington to get a view with less light around. We parked along the lake where there were dozens of others with the same idea.

It’s hard to describe what I saw with my eyes. It felt more like a transparent cloud across the sky. But instead of big puffy clouds, it was streaky. It reminds me of those cocktails and desserts made with dry ice. When the cool, frozen air floats across the table top (shout out to the desserts from last week at Ascend Bellevue). There were little hints of green, and pink, but mostly, I’d call it grey, or white. But it was clear that something was happening up there.

Then I opened my phone to take a picture, and OH MY GOD. The phone bursted with color. The extended exposure made the aurora really pop. I took so many photos. At one point I said, “this looks cooler on my phone than real life.”

After taking a hundred photos, I started to realize I was more interested in looking at the lights through my phone than with my eyes in the sky. It was one of those moments that I had to check myself. Was I being present in this unique moment? Or was I taking pictures of fireworks on 4th of July? Images I’d never go back to look at again. I assure you, this was not the same as taking pictures of fireworks (something I’m still trying to work on).

I’m looking at my phone a week later, and I can’t help to think how cool it was. But in reality, my photos are brighter memories than the sky was that night. In 10 years from now, so many of us will look back on those photos and say “wow, I saw the Northern Lights and they were spectacular.” Me included. But deep down, we all know it didn’t look like that.

I hope you got to enjoy the view on Friday. This is a very cynical, tongue-in-cheek recount of the night, but it still filled me with so much happiness. The unexpected midnight drive out onto the lake was exciting.

On Saturday we tried to repeat the experience, but it wasn’t the same. It was clear how many more people tried to do the same. At midnight along Lake Washington Blvd, the roads were packed. Everyone stopping at the many little parking lots along the road to get a view. There weren’t any. I tried to salvage my hopes when I pulled out my phone, opened the camera app and pointed it to the sky. The colors were gone.

— Conner Cayson