Noctilucent clouds–in technical terms, polar mesospheric clouds–are an extremely rare phenomenon, observed pretty much exclusively in artic regions—although, they have been spotted as far south as Utah, once.  :) ;)

      They are very strange, indeed.  They are comprised of long chains of water molecules, and are located at an altitude over 99% of the rest of the Earth's atmosphere.  They have only been observed in modern times—and have been attributed to being a harbinger of global warming.  (I suppose that, when funding is at stake, pretty much anything can be attributed to being a harbinger of global warming.  :) ;) )

      Regardless, they are REALLY cool.  I first noticed something was, well . . . up ( :) ;) )—when I was walking out of wal-mart (*REFUSE* to capitalize. . . .), and realized that some of the clouds didn't look quite right.

      PMC's!! First of the season!! I placed the camera on the hood of the Impreza (to keep it steady, for the exposures), and started "shotguning" (taking progressive pictures, increasing the amount of exposure) some pics:

      –Notta' so good. HAI!

      Then, I went back to the apartment, grabbed my tripod, and started looking for a good spot.  After wandering around Chena Ridge for a bit, I found that the best place was actually the first I had considered—the open area, by the gas station.

      INCREDIBLE:

      Just LOOK at that sky!

      Look at those ripples!  –It almost looks as if one were underwater. . . .

      No matter where one looked . . . these things filled the ENTIRE SKY.  (!!)

      Overexposure city:

      :P ;)

      (I had trouble with the exposure . . . until I disabled the flash—and just let the camera choose.  It is ofttimes quipped—that Canon's unofficial slogan is "Making even YOUR photography look good."  (!)

      :) ;)

      Wow:

      Just look at that sky. . . .  –It doesn't even look REAL!  –It looks more like a Van Gogh painting. . . .