Dark We Are Not

The Dark Time is over!! Thankfully it's been a fairly bright Fall, but none the less I am always happier when it's brighter outside.

I may have written before how I never believed that Alaska is as dark as others complain. I can't even begin to express how much I love how bright I think my state is than the rest of the Union. I lived in the Seattle Area for a year in my 20's. It was the then and in a subsequent road trip back to Alaska that I realized how not dark my home state was. And it floors me to this day when people complain about, or fear, our "sunless" state. People, we may lack a little direct sunlight a few months of the year, but trust me, we ain't dark.

I remember the first time I experienced real dark, it was the road trip back to Alaska from Washington state via California-Oklahoma (don't ask, it's how we roll). After a fun filled and dare I say, soggy camping trip and sight seeing tour of the coast of Washington and Oregon, we rolled into Northern California. It was late and we had splurged the night before for a hotel to escape the rain. So to save money and get some quick rest, we decided to pull over at the next rest stop on the Pacific Coast Highway.

So as we settled down, me making sure the kids were sleeping comfortably and warm, George turns off the interior lights. I grab my coat and blanket myself, getting all comfy in my seat and then the worst happens. George turned OFF the running lights. I freaked. I admit it. I yelped and then begged for the light to be turned on. I could not see my hands in front of my face (the first time I had ever believed that statement, by the way).

I was a complete baby, because for the first time in my entire life I had experienced total and complete darkness. 'Oh come on!' you say, 'You are from Alaska'... Yes I am from Alaska and no, it does not get dark like that here.

In Alaska we have these incredible and wondrous summers, with the most direct sunlight available on the planet. 'Yea, yea.' mumbles you, 'everyone knows that'; and 'that is the only season with light', you blather on. Oh, but you don't know then, do you? If summer is riff with direct sunlight then nearly the rest of the year is completely doused in indirect light.

I can still see for miles, at night, in the middle of winter. Tell me you can do that in Texas, or California in winter. You can't, not even in summer. And why not? We have snow. The snow is an incredible reflector. It can take moonlight and create the most incredible landscapes in the middle of night. And if we have no moonlight? Stars, a million little sparkling dots of light in the sky. They light up the world, so very much more faint then moonlight, but they do. And rarely, on occasion, we get Northern Lights. Now usually I am too busy watching the display to bother looking around and seeing the mountain ranges or other surroundings, but they add light.

I have been on drives from Anchorage to Fairbanks and been able to watch the beautifully jagged mountain ranges over 50 miles away from the highway we are on, without any help at all. In moonlight you can see in near perfect detail the ridges and valleys draped over the mountain sides. Rocky out croppings and snow covered slops. I have looked over snow covered valleys and seen with eerie precision the edge of the evergreen forests that blanket it randomly with just starlight. You simply can not do that in the middle of the night in the Lower 48. I tried. Even when we were in the middle of the desert in Nevada after 10pm, away from Vegas, the star light could not make up for the lack of reflected light.

Even in Spring you can see, there is lots of snow to reflect light. And the days are getting longer to boot, how can that be dark, I ask you?

The only time I think it is dark is in October or November IF we have no snow on the ground. The daylight hours are short and with the dark ground and mountains behind my house, there is little to no light reflection. I get all antsy and wait for the days that the snow comes to blanket the yard and add my winter dose of reflected lumens. Plus the Halloween season can make a snowless yard look a lot creepier.

I patiently wait for the snow, and I always always feel a little sigh of relief when that first snow fall sticks. Cause I know in the mornings I will be able to see out my front door and not have to worry about the dark again for another year.