The Land of the Mudnight Sun
I haven’t been sleeping much lately. After eight years of living in the same house, it was time to move. The process of buying a new house and the subsequent move was causing me a lot of stress, and my body just couldn’t rest. I had insomnia for about two weeks, right when Alaska goes through its longest days of the year.
One morning I just couldn’t sleep and decided to snap a picture of my backyard to show just how light it is up here in Anchorage in the summer. This picture was taken at 3:47 am on June 14th, one week before summer solstice. This is as dark as it gets.
July 5th, 2009 at 11:37 am
That crazy summer light is one of the things I miss about Alaska. In Juneau it wasn’t so light for so long, but when I was working up near Galena, at a mining camp, the manager used to laugh at me when I would say, “I think I can get this done before dark.” I finally learned to say, “I think I can get this done before dinner.” I never had trouble sleeping in the low light, but the long days did mean I was awake more hours. Down here in the lower 48 I can barely stay up until 9pm.
July 5th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
It was our third trip up there, in the winter, before I ever saw it dark. It was always light when I got up before that and light when I went to bed. I’m not sure how I would handle that, but I think the flip side of the winter I wouldn’t handle well.
Nice photo.
July 5th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
I guess that means it’s difficult to do 4th of July fireworks!
July 5th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
TiredMom, that’s EXACTLY what that means. My family and I were talking last night about how the New Year’s Eve fireworks are so much better because you just can’t see them on the 4th of July.
July 6th, 2009 at 11:11 am
I just moved and know something about insomnia related to it all. I can sleep in any light and early light is beautiful to walk in and to sleep in.
Still a load of work to do after the move but now I am in “My house” I can sleep again.
July 6th, 2009 at 11:18 am
I might be able to get used to the light in the summer, but I don’t think I could handle your dark days of winter. I don’t like the short days we have here in Washington state and can hardly wait for a winter trip to California or Florida to one of the Disney parks.
I have to admit though – every picture I’ve seen of Alaska shows just how beautiful it is.
July 6th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
TiredMom–here (in Juneau) we do the fireworks right at midnight when the 3rd turns into the 4th. They’re (almost always) the first ones in the nation as a result!