First time seeing the Northern Lights.

You can all just go ahead and start calling me a storm chaser now, because I am HOOKED. I dragged Dave out last night (he wasn't feeling well) when I got a text from the Aurora Alerts twitter account saying that the Aurora Borealis would be at storm level. We headed up North, thinking that would be the best place to spot them.

We found what we were looking for and were so excited to finally see the Northern Lights, after living in Alaska for nine months. The stars were SO bright up North, thanks to there being no street lights and no one else out that way. We were in awe at how big and close the Big/Little Dippers looked!

As the night went on, the Northern Lights became more intense and we could tell they were brighter over by the glacier (where we live, go figure). So we drove back down south and parked it at one of the trails to watch.

I don't have a tripod at the moment, so I couldn't keep my shutter open for as long as I would've liked, but I thought some of these turned out pretty good for balancing on the window sill of our Jeep...

First time seeing the Northern Lights | Mallorie Owens
Northern Lights | Mallorie Owens
Northern Lights | Mallorie Owens
Aurora Borealis | Mallorie Owens
Northern Lights | Mallorie Owens

It was magical watching the Northern Lights dance and change colors. It really is like you see in pictures and videos. I told Dave I can almost leave Alaska a happy woman now, whenever we decide to move back to the lower 48, this was one of the top things on my Alaska list.

If you're planning a trip to Alaska, or anywhere that might get some Northern Lights action, I highly recommend following Aurora Alerts on twitter. I have it set up to receive their tweets as texts, which I think is more helpful, that way when the Aurora is at storm level I know to hop in the car and go!

Beautiful day in the neighborhood ≫≫ documenting a rare sunny day in Juneau, Alaska.

I've mentioned it before, but it tends to rain a lot in Southeast Alaska. So when the sun does come out, I make it a priority to get outside and enjoy every little bit. A week or two ago, we had a particularly gorgeous day, so I headed out with my camera and captured as much of it as I could.

These pictures are from all over Juneau, which is gorgeous all the time, but looks like a completely different town when the sun decides to grace us with it's presence. It's funny, too, because I'm not the only one...the town is always extra busy, and every seems to have a certain spring in their step when the sun is shining. I love it.

Documenting a sunny day in Juneau, Alaska | Mallorie Owens Documenting a sunny day in Juneau, Alaska | Mallorie Owens Documenting a sunny day in Juneau, Alaska | Mallorie Owens Documenting a sunny day in Juneau, Alaska | Mallorie Owens Documenting a sunny day in Juneau, Alaska | Mallorie Owens Documenting a sunny day in Juneau, Alaska | Mallorie Owens Documenting a sunny day in Juneau, Alaska | Dreaming Willow Photography Documenting a sunny day in Juneau, Alaska | Mallorie Owens Documenting a sunny day in Juneau, Alaska | Mallorie Owens Documenting a sunny day in Juneau, Alaska | Mallorie Owens Documenting a sunny day in Juneau, Alaska | Mallorie Owens Documenting a sunny day in Juneau, Alaska | Dreaming Willow Photography Documenting a sunny day in Juneau, Alaska | Mallorie Owens Documenting a sunny day in Juneau, Alaska | Mallorie Owens Documenting a sunny day in Juneau, Alaska | Mallorie Owens Documenting a sunny day in Juneau, Alaska | Mallorie Owens Documenting a sunny day in Juneau, Alaska | Mallorie Owens Documenting a sunny day in Juneau, Alaska | Mallorie Owens

In a few of the pictures, you can see something in the water peeking out, those are sea lions! I'm going to share a few more pictures I got of the sea lions and whales this week or next...but I had to go ahead and throw some in there. Since I'm originally from Kansas, I got pretty excited seeing sea lions and whales right down the street from our house.

I know we've only done the kinda touristy things Juneau has to offer, and not even all of those yet...I can't wait to explore more of this amazing little city we're living in. It truly is beautiful.