Our first winter solstice in Alaska! So many people have made the lack of daylight up here in the winter sound so awful, but they have failed to mention how amazingly beautiful the little bit of daylight is. This last week has been indescribable. The colors, the tone, the light has been incredible and the coming week should be the same! With the sun barely peaking above the horizon the light that we have is one long transition between sunrise and sunset. With a few clouds in the sky you get pinks, oranges, and yellows with a backdrop of the softest, but most brilliant blue I have ever seen. The actual daylight hours for today are 3 hours and 43 minutes with the sunrise being at 10:56 am and the sunset being at 2:39 pm. But, the length of visible light recorded is 6 hours and 33 minutes. Even though the sun is below the horizon the sky is lit up for quite some time, so it doesn't seem as bad as everyone has made it sound. I wish I had some pictures to show (not like they would do it justice anyway), but the dogs I work with do not allow me the time to stop and take the pictures. I just have to make lots of mental notes. We went on a six mile hike (made it to the top of Twin Bears Mountain) today to celebrate the solstice but it was snowing so hard we had no views and saw to light really. Oh well! I was remembering our first summer solstice in Alaska today, we hiked 28 miles in 22 hours starting at 1:30 am and ending at 11:30 pm. We drove a few hours north of Fairbanks to do the hike so we could watch the sun travel in a circle around us during the entire hike! Love Alaska! Wishing everyone peace, love and joy this winter season!