The northern lights are different every time you see them. Sometimes, they’re nothing more than a subtle glow along the northern horizon, and other times, they’re unmissable swirls of green, yellow, and pink that shape-shift overhead. And in 2024, they’re likely to be at their most vibrant in years. Luckily, you won’t have to travel all the way to Iceland or Finland for the show—it’ll be right here in the Lower 48, having bright visibility in the Upper Midwest. It might not be the first place that comes to mind when travelers think of the aurora, but it has many advantages. For example, the Great Lakes region is well situated in relation to the auroral oval, giving some of the best proximity to the northern lights when it’s strong. And because of that positioning, lodges and resorts in the north frequently offer night-sky and northern lights excursions, like packages at the Gunflint Lodge in northern Minnesota or night-sky photography workshops offered by the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge o...