Friday, June 17, 2011

Northern Summers

Since late April the days here in Montana have been getting longer and longer. I thought I was used to long summer days, living in Southern California, but let me tell you, it is nothing compared to Montana, and it's not even high summer yet. Unless it's pouring rain it get's unspeakably beautiful at between 7 and 7:30 p.m. here. All of our windows face west, so we are constantly forgetting how late it really is.

Here is Montana at 7:45 in early June. Crazy!


The weirdest part is how long it stays light, even after the sunsets which happen around 9:20 right now (sunrise is at 5:30 and I hear in July it will be closer to 4:30).

Check out this sunset from the other day after it rained. Pretty!




And it stays light like this around the mountains (Helena is in a valley) for at least 30 minutes after sunset, so now that means until almost 10 pm!


The funny thing is that Starbucks closes at 9, so when I go out to write I leave the coffee shop and come home while it is still light! It boggles the mind!

I guess this much sun makes up for the cold, dark, winter!


5 comments:

  1. I know what you mean...when we moved to ND from SC...it was late June and it was daylight until about 10:30...

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  2. I spent a summer working in Scotland and the late-night sun always threw me off. Or it was the haggis.

    Gorgeous photos!

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  3. I love Montana; truly a state of beauty. It has been some years, now, but I traveled down the state and we suddenly realized how quiet it was. No traffic, nothing. We stopped the car and got out. We shushed the kids and listened to the quiet. It was piercing! After about 30 seconds, my 2 year old daughter yelled, "Wow!" Lol.

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  4. When I visited a friend in California, the short days really threw me off. It was April, and I was used to sunset at 8 PM. I think twilight was around 6:45 or 7 there. The long, long summer nights are one of my favorite things about living here.

    Least favorite? Tomorrow is the first day of summer and we've only broken 80 degrees once.

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  5. Nancy - I am used to those short days! And my day still going on after dark, freaks me out that nothing here is open and it's still light out!

    Debbie - It can be really quiet, even though we live "in" the city it's still way more quiet than I am used to!

    Stacey - My guess is the haggis ;)

    Teresa - We've finally hit light at 10, so strange!

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