Happy Summer Solstice

This past weekend was Summer Solstice which is the longest day of the year. This is especially true here in Alaska where it means that the sun either never sets or only sets for a few hours depending on where exactly you are in the state. Yesterday was very busy. We've been trying to gather things up for another garage sale and just get rid as much junk as we could. This weekend we finally got around to having it. Friday we didn't get to bed until almost 2 in the morning because we were busy setting up for it. We got done setting up about 10:30 at night, but we wanted to get the signs up that night because the weather report turned on us and it looked like it might rain on Saturday. Putting up the signs was fun. I just rode around with Dan and he got out to put them up. We had to run back to the house and grab some more signs. As soon as Dan ran inside, something caught my eye and I turned around and there was a moose running down our street! It's a common site actually but they are usually just strolling down the street. This little guy was booking it though to somewhere! It was a site to see for sure. I love living in Alaska!

The garage sale went pretty well. It did end up raining in the morning, but we still got some die hard people that came out. We made enough money for part of our trip to Fairbanks that we are taking over the 4th of July. Then we took a drive toward the inlet near the ocean to watch the sunset. I got some pretty good photos. Even though the mosquitoes were pretty bad, Dan indulged me long enough to take a picture. The young man that took it for us should have let us know we needed to move over a bit so that the sun wasn't shining directly on us still!

We left that area and stopped for gas. Since the sun was still setting or had set but the colors were still out and very cool looking, we drove up to the parking area of Flat top for a better view of the city at night. We walked all the way up to the one major lookout spot and got some pretty neat pictures. For those that live here or have visited, you know what an awesome site this is. It's even more spectacular at night. It's one of the best places to see the whole city skyline and mountain range. Then we started walking back down and stopped at another little spot on the way down to take another look. There was another young couple that we stopped to and wish Happy Solstice to (it's a big day up here!) As we were watching the view, that's when we noticed Mt. McKinley was out and visible. It's a rare site to see it so clear from Anchorage and I have never gotten to see it at night. This was Dan's first time seeing it too, but I can't wait for him to see it more up close when we drive up to Fairbanks (maybe then he'll see what all the fuss is about) I got some pretty descent pictures, but wish I would have grabbed my telephoto lens from the car.


So that's more about our weekend and life in Alaska! Happy Belated Solstice everyone!