Landing in the Midnight Sun. 51/51.
Alaska Travelog #2
Anchorage - Sat, 15 Jun 2024, 1:30am
Flying to Alaska this evening was kind of eerie. When we left SFO at around 8:45pm the sun had already set. But it wasn't yet dark. The waning light of dusk cast a blue pall over everything. But then as we flew north the sky got... slowly brighter for the next few hours. By the time we were on final approach to ANC airport just over 4 hours later the clock had seemingly rolled back 30 minutes minutes, from "blue hour" to the tail end of "golden hour":
It was a very pretty sunset. 4½ hours after the previous sunset. Nominally, sunset in Anchorage was 11:40pm. I snapped this photo (above) at 11:55.
In Alaska at this time of year it basically doesn't get dark. I mean, the sun does set. But apparently it only drops far enough below the horizon for twilight for a few hours.
This photo (above) is a quick snap out the windows of the airport terminal just after midnight.
And yes, being in Alaska now completes one of my bucket list items. I have been to all 50 states in the US. (Plus Washington, DC- which is part of this bucket list item. Plus a few territories, which are not.)
Getting out of ANC airport took a while. Avis car rental made us go through the gantlet of standing in line like a no-status, no-mobile-app customer so they could shake me down for the corporate rate and add-ons like upgrades, extra drivers, insurance, and gas. Thus we didn't arrive at our hotel a few miles from the airport until nearly 1am.
No problem; 1am is still almost daytime!
....Well, there is a problem. Kind of. We're not going to get to sleep until after 2, which means we're probably not going to get going in the morning until 11am. But I think that's only kind of a problem because with the long days we can go hiking 'til 10pm.
Anchorage - Sat, 15 Jun 2024, 1:30am
Flying to Alaska this evening was kind of eerie. When we left SFO at around 8:45pm the sun had already set. But it wasn't yet dark. The waning light of dusk cast a blue pall over everything. But then as we flew north the sky got... slowly brighter for the next few hours. By the time we were on final approach to ANC airport just over 4 hours later the clock had seemingly rolled back 30 minutes minutes, from "blue hour" to the tail end of "golden hour":
It was a very pretty sunset. 4½ hours after the previous sunset. Nominally, sunset in Anchorage was 11:40pm. I snapped this photo (above) at 11:55.
In Alaska at this time of year it basically doesn't get dark. I mean, the sun does set. But apparently it only drops far enough below the horizon for twilight for a few hours.
This photo (above) is a quick snap out the windows of the airport terminal just after midnight.
And yes, being in Alaska now completes one of my bucket list items. I have been to all 50 states in the US. (Plus Washington, DC- which is part of this bucket list item. Plus a few territories, which are not.)
Getting out of ANC airport took a while. Avis car rental made us go through the gantlet of standing in line like a no-status, no-mobile-app customer so they could shake me down for the corporate rate and add-ons like upgrades, extra drivers, insurance, and gas. Thus we didn't arrive at our hotel a few miles from the airport until nearly 1am.
No problem; 1am is still almost daytime!
....Well, there is a problem. Kind of. We're not going to get to sleep until after 2, which means we're probably not going to get going in the morning until 11am. But I think that's only kind of a problem because with the long days we can go hiking 'til 10pm.