Surprised by a Sunrise

I sleep in like it's a religion. My body hates the early.

But, Thursday morning I was in Florida for work but staying a mile from the ocean. I'd tried to get up extra early the day before and failed because I'd stayed up watching C-SPAN (sad, but true - this is why I don't have a TV in my bedroom). I did eventually get up and go for a short walk/jog on the beach, but I regretted missing the sunset because it was already sticky by 9:30.

So this particular morning, when my alarm went off at 6:30, I got up, threw on a sweatshirt, grabbed my camera, and left my hotel room. Knowing I was from Boston, the hotel owner jokingly asked me if I was cold since I had a sweatshirt on. Wearing short sleeves at 6:30am is something us northerners do rarely, if ever, even in the summer. Even in Florida when it's already warm.

I drove down to the beach and jumped out of my car, thinking I'd already missed it. It was not pitch dark anymore, even though it had been 10 minutes before when my alarm went off. The cloud cover was thick so I didn't expect much.

I walked on the beach anyway and took some photos. The moon was still visible.

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This shot above came out of the camera like this. I swoon. I think the salty mist blurred my lens for a bit.

After shooting for awhile it suddenly got brighter. I turned around and what do you know.

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The photos really don't capture how massive the sun was on the horizon. I don't remember seeing anything like it. Probably because I've only caught a sunrise a few times. When I went to summer camp year after year on Lake Huron, our annual tradition was to go down to the beach one morning still in PJs with sleeping bags and wait for the sun to rise. We'd huddle up to stay warm, even in July, and wait to be awed.

1 comment:

Liz said...

What a fantastic way to start the day!