In one of the greatest oddities of the entire trip, I was awake to see sunrises every day in Destin. Now, this doesn’t seem overly remarkable, except that I am one of the original night owls. For me to be AWAKE at 6:00am would be cause for great concern. For me to do so, WHILE on Vacation, well, that’s just mind boggling.

Of course, when you consider how lovely the sunrises are when you are on the beach, it’s pretty easy to get up for them. More times than not, Jeff and I would get up, head down to the Gulf’s edge, and watch the sun come up. Kids still asleep, and just the sound of the waves while watching the colors change. I’d have the tripod setup and just click away while talking and watching the rise.

This picture was from the close to the end of the vacation as well. Earlier in the week, the water was like glass. Not so today. Also, the previous day, it had been COLD on the beach before the solar radiation started to come down. We decided that we could watch the rise almost as well from the Condo, and it was a heck of a lot more comfortable.

It gave a significantly different view to the pictures being near the top of the building. I loved the colors that came out of the cloud banks as the sun came up. It definitely gave a rich texture and complexion that just seemed un worldly. Given that we had been watching Jupiter (being VERY bright in the sky) during the evenings, I’ve taken to calling this picture:

Jovian Rising

Obviously, it’s not Jupiter coming over the horizon, but those hues and patterns certainly form an association.