The Sunshine State

Whoever named Florida the sunshine state couldn't possibly have ever been to Alaska in the summer. I mean it can't possibly get sunnier than opening the curtains when you wake up to let the sunshine flow in and then closing those same curtains at night to try to block the sunshine out. Obviously, I don't actually think that Alaska deserves the sunshine title more than Florida for apparent reasons such as the constant darkness during Alaska's winter but for the time being Alaska is my sunshine state.

You can hear about Alaska summers a million times and never be prepared for the reality of it. If anyone has ever seen the movie Insomnia I promise that you could relate way more to the main character after a few days in Alaska. (For those who haven't seen it. The main guy is a detective working in Alaska. He has insomnia, partially because of the sun and partially because he's a bad guy...I think. I don't remember for sure.)

There's really no way to express in words how confusing it is to never be awake when it's dark. Between 8 and 10 my body knows it's bedtime but my mind is suspicious because it's still light. When you go any place, it's hard to register that it's time to go home for bed because it still looks like play time outside. And here's the really fun part. We've all had those mornings (for me it's everyday) when you wake up and it's still dark, you know you have time to sleep before the alarm goes off. When you wake up and it's light you immediately freak out because you my have over slept. Imagine that feeling every morning around 3 a.m. It's my 5th day here and I can already tell you that the 3 a.m. light and I are not friends.

Not only is the sunshine playing tricks on my sleep, it's also putting a mean hurt on my body temperature in relation to surroundings. For example, it's always sunny here but it's not always warm. In fact, much like Oklahoma, the weather will throw you for a loop quite often. Unlike Oklahoma, however, it's not usually a new day before the weather will change. You may get a few temperature curves balls in a matter of a few hours. It's too warm for a jacket, it's too windy to even bother brushing your hair, it's too cold for a buffalo to survive, it's so still and quiet that you search for another human in site just to eliminate that fear that you didn't miss an apocalypse and everyone else was destroyed. You get the drift. If you ever visit Alaska, don't just be prepared for the weather to change on your trip. Never leave the house without some warm stuff and some cool stuff.

Alaska Word: Breakup- The process by which all snow and ice finally melts away. Aka the beginning of tourist season.