© Patrick Endres/AlaskaPhotoGraphics.com (2)
MIDNIGHT SUN
10
Wake up in the middle of the night to find the sun shining brightly, people out biking and gardening and walking the dog. This far north phenomenon is a cool consequence of living on top of the world where 100 pound cabbages aren’t outlandish and golfing in the wee hours of the morning is commonplace. The endless sunshine transforms life in the far north in pleasing and wondrous ways. Flowers, vegetables and all things green and growing often dwarf their lower 48 cousins. People are energized and on the go at all hours. Civil twilight, the technical term for “usable daylight hours,” begins and ends when the center of the sun is geometrically six degrees below the horizon. That might sound perplexing but what it boils down to is that regardless of sunrises and sunsets, there are 70 straight days of sunshine, from the middle of May to the end of July, when Fairbanks doesn’t experience darkness, just twilight. How incredible is that? Favorite middle-of-the-night activities include hiking, running, golfing and even baseball—where the Alaska Goldpanners start their historic solstice game at 10:30pm—and never have to use electric lights. Guests on the deck of a riverside restaurant enjoy the warmth of Fairbanks’ summer sun as a riverboat passes by on the Chena River. Inset: Fairbanks’ long summer days result in an abundance of locally grown flowers and produce.