Endless Days -- solstice celebrations

At 11 p.m. Sunday, Gary Reed was walking Dusty, his golden retriever, in the Settler's Bay park. Reed, who is visiting his Alaska friends from Springfield, Ill., simply couldn't get over the fact he was forced to wear sunglasses during the middle of the night. Welcome to Alaska, solstice style.

"It's 11 o'clock, and it's like it's 11 in the morning out here," Reed said as Dusty frolicked in the grass. "I can't get over how the daylight is up here. How do you guys sleep all summer?"

Sunday was summer solstice, with more than 19 hours of daylight recorded in the Mat-Su Valley. Even that number is a little misleading, as even though the officially set, darkness was another story -- the sun slid just below the horizon for a few hours, but the daylight never ceased. Clear blue skies and warm temperatures only helped liven the day for many.

The official first day of summer is an unofficial holiday in Alaska. The Land of the Midnight Sun lives up to that moniker in mid-June, and people everywhere celebrate "the longest days."

"I work on the Slope and up there, the sun shines all summer. You can't tell if it's a.m. or p.m. because it's the exact same all the time," said Todd Walleen, who spent this solstice weekend fishing and camping with his family.

Summer solstice marks the point at which the sun is the farthest north. Thanks to the earth's axis and tilt, that gives Alaska maximum exposure to the sun. While Southcentral Alaska had little over 19 hours between the sun rise and the sun set, Barrow, on the other hand, hasn't seen a sun set in a month, and won't see another one for quite a while -- typically, the sun rises around May 10 and doesn't set until Aug. 2 in Barrow, a span of 84 days of continuous daylight.

No matter which community you visit, solstice in Alaska is always celebrated. In Anchorage, more than 3,000 people showed up for the annual Midnight Sun Mayor's Marathon. In Fairbanks, the Alaska Goldpanners hosted a baseball game that started at 10 p.m., and no lights were used as the game continued into the next day. Around the state, parties popped up to celebrate the longest day of the year.

"Your state is one of the most beautiful areas on this earth," Reed said. "We RV all summer, and this is the most beautiful place we have ever visited. The daylight only adds to it. We were in Fairbanks last week and it was just like this, but only hotter. And the drive there and back was unbelievable."

The longest day is a reason to celebrate, but already, some Alaskans are dreading what comes next -- the loss of daylight. Solstice is the ultimate "glass half full or glass half empty" test for Alaskans.

"Solstice is great, but it also means the days are going to start getting shorter already. We just started having good, summer weather, too," said Johanna Walleen. "By the middle of July, I start noticing it getting dark, and then by August, the nights are completely dark again."

There is room for optimism, even for the biggest pessimist -- the days will start getting longer right around Christmas.