NORTHERN LIGHTS!!
On Thursday, we headed south to our next destination — Edgeworthstown in County Longford, Ireland — where we're currently enjoying a four-night stay in a gorgeous rural AirBnb.
We've been having a relaxing time here while B recovers from his illness. But something extremely thrilling happened on the first night!
Earlier that day, I'd been messaging with Diane, the sister of one of our friends in England. Diane lives nearby-ish and was helping us out with our Sunday plans.
Anyway, around 10pm, I was getting the boys to bed (we'd stayed up late reading extra chapters of Anne of Green Gables because they were enjoying it so much), when Diane messaged again: "Are you seeing the Northern Lights? Or maybe it's nothing new for you..."
Well, of course I started yelling the place down to alert the rest of the family! We all rushed around pulling on jackets and shoes (it was probably about 6°C at the time) and ran outside.
B got there first and was staring off in the wrong direction and saying he couldn't see anything. Then I took a few steps around the corner of the house and saw a pink glow across the sky. Everyone else came running, and the dogs across the road started barking (and didn't stop the whole time we were outside). It was all very exciting! 😄
From reading about others' experiences with the Northern Lights (aka Aurora Borealis), I knew they show up best in photos. So we got our phones out and started taking pics in night mode — and the lights showed up beautifully! My photos below haven't been edited or filtered at all.
Apart from how amazing it was that we were staying somewhere dark enough to see the lights, AND that someone who doesn't know us thought to let us know, AND that I saw her message in time, this experience was extra special and unlikely for the following reasons:
- When researching this trip, we had considered going north in Finland as we've always wanted to see the Northern Lights, but in the end we couldn't justify the time or expense given that there's no guarantee of seeing them.
- In Northern Ireland the night before, some of the people we were with had seen the Northern Lights over the previous few nights. We were so disappointed we hadn't known to look for them! As we were heading four hours south the next day, we resigned ourselves to having missed our chance.
- It's extremely rare to see the Northern Lights from where we are now, in the middle of Ireland. Diane said it was the first time she'd ever seen them too, and so did the family we had lunch with today!
In summary, this is a wonderful memory to have from our time in Ireland, especially as we've done hardly anything else here!