Have you seen aurora borealis (otherwise known as the northern lights)? The impression of seeing Arctic skies crackle with smoky soul, greens and reds has long drawn off-period explorers way north. 2013 will be enormous, checking the closure of a searing 11-year-cycle, when sunspots are especially feisty, making for an enormous show in the Fairbanks sky 240 nights a year. Go. From May to mid-August light is so solid there is no option see much, yet by late summer they begin to show up, and Fairbanks is the spot to be. On the ground, inquisitive foodies can test conventional Athabascan food at Taste of Alaska (bring to book ahead of time) at the Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitors Center, or tune in an interesting pub-creep, The Great Fairbanks Pub Paddle. Open all year, the 414-mile Dalton Highway utilizes north of Fairbanks into the Arctic, and air taxis achieve the immaculate 800-sq-mile Gates of the Arctic National Park, yet the light show will be best back in Fairbanks.