Last Sunset

(This was a "travelogue" e-mail sent out on April 25, 2008)

Hi All,

Well, today was the big day. The sun set for the last time, or maybe I should say it rose for the last time. Tuesday was the last day that the full disk of the sun came up above the horizon, and today was the last time any portion of it showed. The lay of the land here prevents us from seeing the sun at sunset (mountains in the way), but it can be seen from the Pegasus runway facility (where the last flight took off). Here's a picture of me, at about 11AM yesterday at Pegasus. This is pretty typical of the light conditions we are having these days, with a lot of cool blue and purple bands in the sky. If I look cold, it's no mistake. My glasses were completely frozen over. I had just been on top of one of the airport buildings, removing an antenna, and my breath, deflected by my neck gaiter, was frosting up my glasses. It was about -10F out, with about 30mph winds. Brrr. The other photo is the actual sunset event at about 2:30 this afternoon. This is an important time of year for us, emotionally and otherwise-- going into winter at the bottom of the earth!

L.

PS: I think my coworker "photoshopped" the moon in on that picture!