Where 5:08 is Late

May 14, 2021

Where 5:08 is Late

This Central Time Zone thing is killing me. You know about it. But that's different from living it. I woke up early -- somewhere before 4:30AM -- so I thought I'd give the sunrise on Monte Sano a try. There's a nice overlook at the State Park that I've shot before. Not a great view but it's a good one.

Anyway, I got dressed, made a cup and grabbed a breakfast bar. That's the first thing -- nobody is open to grab a biscuit before 5AM. I made it to the State Park gate at 5:08AM. The sky was already bright. It was mostly clear and I was still there in time to see the Sun actually break the horizon, right on time, at 5:45AM. (It's almost like you could set your watch by it. Oh, wait.)

But as anyone who has seen my work knows, it's all the pretty colors in the sky before sunrise that make my day. And that brings me to the second thing about being on the East side of the Central Time Zone. Perhaps you remember me mentioning the photographer's meaning of "the golden hour". That's the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset where the light turns warm and golden, shadows get softer, rainbows appear and all sorts of good thing happen photographically. Well, that hour begins at 5:45AM here. It ends at 6:45AM -- before they even open most of the gates at the park. I've been there and done that but now I'm living it.

Oh well. I can't change it. So I'll adapt or I won't.

In other news, Monte Sano has a Japanese garden. I take it right now is not the optimal time to see it.

In addition, the Bankhead Trail evidently used to be the Bankhead Parkway. It's not a bad grade but it's all uphill to the overlook at Monte Sano. You can hike it or bike it.