Last Sunset
Hey all. So today was our final sunset for several more months. The sun won't be back above the horizon until sometime in September if I remember right. It'll still be somewhat light, less and less everyday over the next month or so until it's dark 24/7 outside. If I remember right it's most of June and July that is totally dark outside. You get used to it after a while, it just becomes part of your day, but I miss it already. I tossed my sunglasses in a drawer, I won't need those for a while.
This is my fourth winter but the first time I went to actually watch the last sunset. There are some mountains in the immediate area around town so you can't see the horizon unless you get away from town.
Arrival Heights is a specially protected area set about a mile-ish away from town. There are a couple buildings where science experiments are going on all year around. It's away from town because some of the experiments are light sensitive so no flash photography is allowed and no headlights on vehicles when it's dark out, you can't use your radio, and you need a special permit to get into the area. There also happens to be a fantastic view of the whole area from up there. A bunch of us got a chance to go up to Arrival Heights to watch the final sunset today.
It's kind of weird standing there watch the sun slip away next to a dozen other people, but it's cold and windy so you have your have everything buttoned up tight and you're just looking through this little slit. It's sort of like being in your own little cocoon so you can ignore everyone else and just think about whatever. I was thinking about home, people I missed, and how much I'd love to be able to show people back home things like this in person. It doesn't matter how many picture you take and how many words you use to describe it, it's the sort of thing you can't fully "get" unless you were standing there looking at it yourself. On the bright side, you get to look at the pictures with a million little "sunsets" burned into your eyeballs when you close your eyes. You also didnt have to go sit inside the warm building for 20 minutes with hand warmers wrapped around your toes because you almost froze them off. I guess the important thing is that I didn't freeze anything off and came back with a bunch of pics <cheese alert!> and memories.
Anyway, enjoy the pictures.
