Traveling to Fairbanks in January turned out to be a much better idea than I thought it was going to be. When my friends invited me on the Alaskan vacation they were planning, my first thought was "Alaska? In January? Have you met me???"  But a chance to check off an elusive bucket list item, the Northern Lights, got me on a cross-country plane flight to Fairbanks, Alaska hauling a suitcase stuffed with warm clothing.