Walter Rouse first learned of the Northern Lights through an animated film.

The Vikings tackle watched Disney's Brother Bear as a youngster and found himself enamored with the bold, beautiful colors of the aurora borealis.

Since then, Rouse has always hoped for an opportunity to see the natural phenomenon in person. So when the Vikings offered him the opportunity this spring to take a trip to Churchill, Manitoba, he eagerly rearranged his schedule to make it happen.

Churchill is renowned as one of the best places in the world to view the Northern Lights, thanks to its prime location beneath the auroral oval, as well as the prevalence of cold, clear nights.

"I told them, 'I have to go. Let's do this,' " Rouse recounted.

He and five Vikings staff members prepped for the Canadian excursion, which took them from Minneapolis, to Winnipeg, to Thompson (due to engine trouble and a premature landing) and finally to Churchill.

The first stop upon landing? Bundling up (really bundling up) and heading out with their guides to see Rouse's bucket-list item.

"It was so surreal," he said. "We had one of the best nights to do it on; the guide described it as, 'the lights were dancing for us.'

"Even without the camera we could pick them up," Rouse continued. "The best way is through your camera — without it, it's mostly white with some faint color — but we can still see it. And then when you put the camera over it, and no filters or anything, it looked absolutely amazing. It was beautiful. I was like, 'Wow.'

"You can really see the lights are just moving along," he added. "You just think about how crazy and how amazing Mother Nature is, how beautiful this world is. It's a very natural occurrence, and being able to see it in real time is amazing."

We sat down with Rouse and chatted about the rest of his adventure:

Q: Was it ridiculously cold there? Worse than you were expecting?

A: "A couple times it was, 'Oh, it's not too bad.' The big thing is the wind. The wind chill makes it so much colder. I think the coldest nights for me, obviously, was when I didn't have all my gear on. So when we got there and when we were leaving, I didn't have my gloves on, and it felt like the air was slicing through my hand. I had respect, but then especially when I learned about the people who first came to Churchill, without the technology we have today, there's so much more respect on what they had to go through and endure. We did snowshoeing, and sometimes when people first came to Churchill, they didn't have the snowshoes and all the necessary equipment, and they would just be walking through the snow for miles and miles. I mean, I'm tired after an hour. I'm like, 'Let's go home.' But they were doing it for days. I developed an immense amount of respect for these people [and it makes you think about] how we take things for granted. We have all this technology and whatnot to help us, keep us safe, keep us warm, make sure we can weather the storm in these conditions. But these people were just doing it out of pure will and survival instinct."

Q: I did hear you might have had a snafu while snowshoeing?

A: "Yeah, oh my gosh. I wish we could've gotten it on film. It might have won America's Funniest Home Videos or something. It was at night, and we didn't have any snowshoes on, OK? We're taking a trail, and I guess we took the long way back, instead of taking the shortcut we'd used earlier in the day. We're walking along, and I'm trying to [stay up] but I'm heavy, so [I'm sinking in] and the snow goes up to here, up to my hip, I'm trying to walk through. I just keep falling every couple of steps. And then Heather (one of the Vikings staffers), I'm 6-6 and she's 5-3, so I'm trying to tell her to follow my path. […] We're just both falling. … At one point I step, I fall through, and then my other leg falls through, too, and then suddenly the inside seam of my snowpants just rips from one knee all the way to the other knee. I'm like, 'You've gotta be kidding me.' Luckily, the insulation was still intact, but I'm just sitting there, like legs wide open, like face down into the snow. So then I'm like, 'You know what? Forget it.' I start crawling on all fours, like, 'Don't worry about this. I got it.' I'm literally on my hands and knees trying to crawl to make it through the snow, and we're just laughing the whole way. Heather starts doing the same, and it was just hilarious."

Q: Something that went a little better, dog sledding — what was that experience like?

A: "I was surprised, honestly, how fast they were able to pull us. We were learning about the person who runs the dog sledding company, and he's done marathons with the dogs all over from Winnipeg to Manitoba, which is absolutely insane. And the dogs are absolutely beautiful. Very smart. They have a very intentional system. You have the front dog, obviously the leader, and the back dogs are the strongest. And then you have the middle pack for endurance, who can run for miles on end. It almost reminds me of an offensive line, how they have eight, 12 dogs all working together as one. We're five people acting as one. If someone gets off rhythm or does the wrong thing, it affects the whole unit. That was a really cool experience. It was awesome. I wish we could have done it longer — it was a quick mile — but it was really awesome."

Q: Tell me about the trading post visit; did you have a favorite item you picked up there?

A: "We got these mitts, and they're insulated with coyote fur. I feel really comfortable in those. … I also got a drum and a couple of hides and skins. Then some things that I got for my mom. The coolest thing I probably got was — I know about this artistic style called tufting, which is where they take the hair of a moose or caribou, they cut it really thin and they dye it, and then you're able to use tufting to make it into any shape, flower or image that you want, and they frame them. I got one for my mom, my grandma, my aunt, and it was just super cool how they did it. One was even gifted to me by one of the locals there."

Q: What was it like just getting to connect with Churchill locals and to share some Vikings football with them?

A: "It was crazy. Even though they're in Churchill, so far from the NFL, they are still very excited about the Vikings being there. We had a youth football camp for these kids at an elementary school with Viktor, and one of the girls came to it in a Vikings cheerleader outfit. I'm like, 'Oh my goodness, even here.' One of the dads was wearing a Vikings jersey. So, that was really cool to see that even up there we've got fans. They really embraced us, and we really embraced them."

Q: Did you enjoy traveling with Vikings staff members — Vikings Entertainment Network, even Viktor — and seeing a little bit behind the scenes?

A: "It was very cool. I love getting to learn the process a little bit, how they set everything up, how they captured the Northern Lights and had all these cameras around for timelapses and stuff. Then to see all the editing come together. Very cool to be on the inside looking out."

Q: I heard that the search for a polar bear wasn't fruitful; were you bummed? Relieved?

A: "I was bummed. I wanted to see a polar bear. But I mean, I was literally eating breakfast and Caleb (our guide), he says, 'All right, we've gotta go!' And I'm still only halfway through my breakfast; I'm like, 'I've gotta eat.' He goes, 'Don't worry, I'll pack it up for you.' So we're out there, and I'm lookin' at nothing but white. I'm trying to find a polar bear, and I'm like, 'This isn't gonna work.' But yeah, we didn't end up finding one. But apparently since the polar bear had been spotted [earlier], they said it probably was around our area when we were out snowshoeing that previous night. And it was a mama bear with a cub, so it would have been, 'Oh my god, no thank you.' You know, I guess all you've gotta do is be faster than the slowest person. … But I would love to go back to Churchill sometime and hopefully see polar bears and blue whales. That would just be amazing."

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