Sunrise, Sunset
My son had suggested I add seeing a sunrise on one coast and seeing a sunset on the opposite coast on the same day to my list. I thought it would be pretty easy knowing Florida has two separate coasts which both have beautiful sunrises and sunsets.
1st attempt: Easter Weekend 2018. The kids and I were in St. Augustine and attended a sunrise Easter service. Although the sun came up, we could not see it as the clouds were low and locked the area in.
2nd attempt: May 2018- Keys weekend with Alexandra. Alexandra and I went to the Keys on missions to accomplish things on my list. Really my mission was to enjoy the time with my daughter knowing how fleeting time together is. The time together was amazing! We were able to accomplish some items: Swim with Dolphins and visit Key West. But the weather was uncooperative at best and just really ugly. Both sunrises were covered in rain clouds. Not the pretty awakening of the Earth I was hoping for. Shoot, must attempt again. This is getting harder than I thought.
3rd attempt: This time I took it up a notch! I was going to California to spend Thanksgiving with Rob's family and the kids as well as see wonderful college friends! I decided to try the true coast-to-coast sunrise/sunset experience: sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean and sunset over the Pacific Ocean. I purposefully arranged my flights to make it happen. Given it's after daylights savings time and the time it takes to fly from Florida to California- finding flights where this could happen was quite challenging. FLL sunrise: 6:40 am, SAN sunset 4:30 pm. The airlines don't arrange the flights for my purpose. To make it happen I flew Southwest from Ft. Lauderdale to Phoenix and then was supposed to go from Phoenix to San Diego.
I arose a little before 4am. The drive to Ft Lauderdale beach was free from traffic and peaceful. The sunrise, although cloudy was beautiful. I loved how the orange glowed through the clouds and the radiant light made the speckled clouds look like silver shadows. God is such a beautiful artist!
The trip to the airport, parking and flight to Phoenix were all uneventful and on schedule. As soon as I landed in Phoenix I received a text from Southwest Airlines informing me my flight was 2 1/2 hours delayed and would not arrive until 4:30pm. Shoot! I did a quick internet search and saw my plane was two cities away from landing in Phoenix. I thought it would only get later. I checked to see if there were any other flights- only one that was leaving Phoenix while I was arriving. I began thinking I was going to have to do a Florida road trip crisscrossing the state in one day to get this done.
Fortunately I met Christina, a very helpful and creative gate agent. I shared with her my goal of sunrise and sunset and she wanted to help me. She tried a few things, made a few calls and came up with a solution.- fly to Reno and then to San Diego. The flights are using the same equipment so unless there is a weather problem in Reno or an equipment problem on the plane, I'd make it to San Diego just before 3pm. So off I hurried to the gate and boarded just as they were closing the doors. Sitting in the middle seat never looked so good!
A good friend picked me up from the airport. She loves the beach life and enjoys sunsets as often as possible. She arranged for a group of our college friends to gather together for an early dinner and sunset evening at the beach. The marine layer was coming in thick causing the sunset to be similar to the sunrise, a nice orange glow through the clouds. Then, it turned. It became a breathtaking pink and purple setting in over the Pacific Ocean. Words and my pictures can not truly show the beauty in the sunset. It’s amazing how God gives us both a beautiful beginning and ending to each and everyone of our days. Third time was the charm, #16✔ is finally done!
