Arizona time

When we visit Alaska in the summer, an annual thing in our family (see Alaska posts), one of the big adjustments is to what we're heard referred to as 'Alaska Time.' As a result of the long summer days, the sun going down at like midnight in July, people stay up late and then sleep in well into the morning. For us this has frequently meant we can get up at, I don't know, 7am (aka 10am in Minnesota), go into town, get some coffee and/or breakfast, mill around a little while, then go to my in-laws house and they'll still be asleep. Once, when we stayed near one of the state parks, my wife took the kids on a hike at like 930am and got multiple compliments at how early she had everyone going. Staying up and sleeping in is clearly the culture there, at least in the summer. Because of the sun.

In Arizona it's the total opposite. It's seemingly common for people to get up super early and need to go to bed much earlier than I'd like. Older folks, of which there are many down here, notoriously do this anyway. We met some people in the northern AZ mountain community where my parents spend their summers who get up every day at like 430am, 330am etc. That's mind boggling to me. While those are more extreme examples, it really is normal behavior. My nephews, who I spent the last week plus with up there, are rip roaring ready to go every day by 6am. The rule in their household is they need to stay in their room until that time before coming out and rousing the remainder. I got reasonably used to waking up at 6 when I slept under the same roof as them, but needed to be in bed before 10pm generally to survive it. I was quickly falling asleep by that time naturally anyway. My sister, their mother, who, it sounds like, also gets up at like 5, 530am, recently shared with us how she discovered subculture of people who are up before sunrise to walk their dogs. It was an amusing anecdote, where she got to park when it was still dark and couldn't see, then realized, as 'Dawn rose on her golden throne,' (see the Odyssey) just how many people were there.

This is actually quite cool

Next week though

The primary reason for all this, ironically enough, is the same that people stay up late in Alaska, the sun. And I get it, now that I'm experiencing the Sonoran Desert at near its full capacity. If we leave the house at 9am and try to go to a park or something it's already 90+ degrees and rising. It's basically always 100+ (if not 110) in the early afternoon and barely drops by sunset. Plus there's the fact that the sun at this latitude hits much harder than it does farther north, something I've noticed when we've visited in the winter or spring time. There's a massive difference between being in direct sunlight and the shade throughout the year, and it's truly oppressive in the summer time. In short, it's in no way desirable to be outside after the sun has been up for even a few hours. The early morning is truly the only time it's bearable, and that's a major reason people get up early.

Since Arizona is a lot farther south than I'm used to in Minnesota (and certainly Alaska), the days are much more consistent in terms of daylight and darkness. In Phoenix, on the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, the sun comes up at 518am and sets at 741pm for a total of 14 hours, 22 minutes of daylight. On the winter solstice sunrise is 727am and setset is 524pm, still nearly 10 hours of sunlight. (For comparison's sake: Minneapolis, MN longest day is 15:37, shortest is 8:46, Homer, AK longest day is 18:43, shortest is 6:00). The whole year in Arizona has between 10 and 14.5 hours of sun. In addition it needs to be considered that this state doesn't do daylight savings time, they never shift their clocks. We're currently technically mountain standard time. As someone who's used to a more northern locale, and daylight savings, the biggest change is the feeling the sun sets absurdly early for the summer.

If only I wasn't so governed by the clock. Bedtime for the kids has stayed at around 8pm, for my wife and I maybe 1030pm. My wife and I struggle to get up before like 630am and our kids all also are not super early risers, at least when their cousins aren't around. Breakfast for us is too often an ordeal and thus far I'm reasonably happy if we leave the house around 8am. I still try to take us for an excursion each morning. But if we actually want to enjoy the outdoors it should probably be an hour earlier at least. One unexpected change of living in Arizona so far has been what part of the weather report I key on. Everywhere else I've lived I pretty much only look at the high in the summer time, and dress accordingly. Here there's no reason to view the high, it's always too large a number. Instead I want to see the low temp on the multi-day forecast to see what days will be best in the mornings. If you can get out before it's 90 or higher it's quite glorious outside. At least for a short while. It will continue to be my mission to try to get everyone to bed earlier and up earlier to enjoy it. We're all just not wired that way.

I have two more thoughts on what I'm now going to call Arizona Time. One, with how everyone internalizes the shift and adjusts their clocks mentally, I kinda wish Arizona just did daylight savings after all. In a way I understand, you want the time in the mornings instead of the evenings, but isn't it silly to be going to bed at like 9 to wake up at 5 or earlier? And two, woof, going from Arizona to Alaska later this summer is going to be rougher than ever. It'll be a proper culture shock.