A Soggy and Chilly Summer Solstice...

June 21, 2014

The summer solstice occurs when the tilt of a planet’s semi-axis, in either the northern or the southern hemisphere, is most inclined toward the star (sun) that it orbits. Earth’s maximum axial tilt toward the sun is 23° 26′. This happens twice each year, at which times the sun reaches its highest position in the sky as seen from the north or the south pole. The summer solstice occurs during a hemisphere’s summer.

Well, so, they say, but today, here in Ninilchik, Alaska, we are not sure that this day was fit to be called the first day of summer.  We woke to a steady rain and

absolutely no sunshine!

By noon we made up our minds that the wet weather would not dampen our day.  Wanting to get out of the motor home, we decided to go look for the eagles.

  At least they

did not disappoint us.  They entertained us for

for quite awhile flying high in the sky and

.

perching on the hillside across the river.

We even saw these two

in a stand off to see who was going to get the fish!  I am pretty sure the eagle won.

We lingered along the

beach thinking...the rain has stopped...so the sun should follow!  But, it just didn't happen.  In fact the temperatures stayed in the low 50's all day and the clouds hung low...that is not what I consider the first day of summer!

So, I am thinking this day was

was one for the birds!

But, even with the rain and no sign of the sun, we think it was still an awesome day.  Because, while we were out with the birds, Mark Nemeth was back at the campground, making us a batch of his famous shrimp and chicken gumbo topped off with Wanda's potato salad, followed by Bea's pineapple pudding.

  No better way to warm us up on this soggy and chilly Summer Solstice 2014.

Welcome to summer...Hope yours is a good one!