After Glow

 

Last night here was the evening of the Winter Solstice.  It was cloudy all day, and I was not sure if there would be a good viewing of the sunset out at the Parowan Gap, but I decided to take a chance and drive there anyway.  The temps were in the low 50's with some wind.  Actually very nice.

I was greeted by 2 ravens up on a tall rock near where I parked.  An omen perhaps?

There were several cars already parked there, so I knew I would have company.  It turned out that these were families with a bunch of little kids.  So nice that children were being exposed to this kind of activity!  So I proceeded to climb up the fairly steep hill to just below the viewing location and waited.  This is what it looked like at first.

As the sun started to set down through the gap, things lightened up.

Finally, I could see just a peek of the sun down in the bottom of the V.

The hills and flat areas to my north were lit up, too.

We had been having some beautiful sunrises and sunsets here in the last few days, so I waited until after the sun went down to see what would transpire.  Here is the afterglow

Even though it was getting dark and I still had to find my way down the hill, it was well worth it to linger a bit and enjoy the after glow of the solstice.  

One last gift awaited me.  When I drove back through the gap heading west and back to town, this is what I saw.  A brilliant red sunset right over Cedar City.  

So Happy Winter Solstice to all.  Here's wishing you a New Year full of magic!