The Dawn of 2008

I have always thought that it would be cool to get a picture of the sun rising on New Years Day. I think that it would be a lot better way to celebrate the beginning of a new year then to go out and get drunk, which is what is typically associated with New Years. Unfortunately winters in Minnesota usually consist of a lot of cold cloudy gray days. Which has made it impossible for me to get a good sun rise shout on New Years in the past. This year looked like it was going to be the same.

On New Years Eve the weather report was calling for very cold with cloudy skies and a chance of flurries for New Years Day. Neither Michelle or I are very big drinkers, I have not been since my college theatre days, and since I started taking insulin alcohol is something that I stay away from. So we do not do a lot of partying. That evening we went over to my sisters to celebrate New Years with my family. We did not stay too late since I had gotten up at 3:30am that morning to go to work. When I went to bed that night I figured that the weather would spoil my sunrise shot again this year and so I did not set my alarm.

I woke up around 5am and since the covers were all warm and cosy I decided to stay in bed for a while. Around 5:30 I finally got out of bed and took a look out the window. Most of the window was iced and it was still dark out so it was hard to tell what the weather was like. So I went to my office and jumped on a PC to check the weather online. The online weather site that I use has a real time map that allows you to look at cloud cover and precipitation, isn't technology wonderful. When I saw that the skies were clear I quickly changed, took my shot, grabbed my gear and food and headed out.

I decided to head down to Lake City so that I could take my picture of sunrise over Lake Pepin. I made it down to a good location shortly before sunrise. The weather forecast from the day before had been wrong about the clouds but they were right on about the cold. The temperature was slightly below zero with a wind chill below -20. So I sat out in the cold, using a tree to help shield me from some of the wind, as the sun slowly made its way up through the thin line of clouds that were hugging the horizon. After taking quite a few shots of the sun at different levels as the sunrise progressed, I returned to my truck. My face and my fingers were frozen but it was worth it.

This was a great way to begin the new year and since you could not all be there with me, I will begin this years blog by sharing my sunrise with you.

Here is to the beginning of a great new year.