Bring on the daylight!!! Oh…and welcome summer! Today is summer solstice - the longest daylight day of the calendar year. This is So Cal - more than 15 hours of daylight today! I’d like that every day actually. I’m a fan of daylight (not a sun worshipper but a daylight worshipper!)
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One of the things I loved about attending WWU was the long, long summer nights in Bellingham!
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The first time I was in Seattle it was during the July fourth weekend. I could not believe how late the fireworks started because sunset was so much later than what I was used to in NYC.
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BEST day of the year. I’ve been really, really making sure to use the evening daylight this year. You’ll find me on my deck or in my yard or taking dusk walks/runs almost every night!!
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I love the summer solstice. We will be at the beach to watch the sunset tonight.
Don’t be like Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby:
“Do you ever wait for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always wait for the longest day of the year and then miss it! ”
Enjoy the day!
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Sunrise 5:07 AM
Sunset 9:20 PM
Civil Twilight
4:25 AM
10:02 PM
Nautical Twilight
3:23 AM
11:04 PM
Astronomical Twilight
Length of Visible Light
17 h 37 m
Length of Day
16 h 12 m
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Not a fan of summer heat/humidity, but LOVE the long days! Sun rises around 5:30 AM and sets at 9 PM here.
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Starting tomorrow someone in my family will say, “Does anyone notice the days getting a little shorter?”
Sunset tonight at 8:30. Love hot summer evenings.
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We enjoy comparing notes with son on sunsets this time of year.
I grew up in Michigan, close to the western edge of the Eastern time zone, and I remember it staying light until close to 10:00. Then I lived in Chicagoland for 40 years, near the eastern edge of the Central time zone. Very happy to be on the west coast.
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Single worst thing about living in Chicago!
5:56AM-9:33PM here according to weather channel. Walked home from neighbors at 9:45 last evening and the overall sky was still somewhat light - no flashlight needed
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I could never put my kids to bed when it was light. That just felt so cruel to me to have them missing out on daylight which I coveted so much! So in the summer no one, no age went to bed before 9-9:30.
I was reminded of this the last couple of weeks. I tend to go to bed during the work week between 9:30-10, read for a while before sleeping - but it’s been not really dark - I feel like I’m a kid being sent to bed!! (But that alarm at 5:30am is enough to keep me on schedule!)
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I have such a love/hate relationship with today! I love love love it being the longest day, but I just hate that feeling that all the days get shorter from now on!
(H tries to make me feel better by retelling his Dad joke that all days are the same length 
…)
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I do that too. Here’s my way out of that funk…for the last month or more the days have seemed quite long! That means for at least another month they will still seem quite long! 
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Same!
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I agree, Chicago got the short end of the stick. However, here in SoCal, the sunset is 8:05 and in Chicago it’s 8:30. However- wintertime sunsets in Chicago are the worst!
But what I really love are the close to 10 pm sunsets in Spain during the summer!
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I seem to be the outlier here. I love the long days in summer but like the long nights in winter, too. Perhaps it’s because I grew up in New England or maybe it’s because I’m a true night owl.
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I like having both parts of the year in a way. Growing up in Southern California the weather was never really something I thought about. It was pretty much the same all year long. When I moved to the Pacific Northwest, and then to the Chicago area, I found myself getting anxious any time the weather was nice because you can’t “waste” it. There’s a pressure to be out and doing things and making the most of it. After 20+ years here I feel it getting worse. As the Solstice approaches, I start feeling like I’ve wasted half the summer already and we haven’t had friends over to BBQ or done enough bike rides, blah blah. So when Fall settles in and the weather starts to change I’m kind of relieved that there’s no expectation that we have to Enjoy! Every! Moment! TBH, January is my favorite month here because NO ONE wants to get together and socialize at that point!
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I grew up in SoCal, too, and continued to visit for many decades. I am now in the PNW and am positive that I do not appreciate the sunshine when it’s every single day. That’s just boring, whereas here, I treasure it.
I adore having four seasons, just a few snowstorms each year, leave that turn color, real spring, it’s ideal for me.
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