Yesterday in class we talked about what it means to be the day of the “equinox.” We related this to the “equator” and to “equal” amounts of sunlight and darkness in our day. But I also remembered that this meant something about where you could expect to see a sunrise or sunset. That made me want to go watch the sun going down that evening.

Where I live, the streets are lined up in a grid lining up north-south and east-west. We also live up on the side of mountains where we can get a good view of the setting sun. So I went out that evening for a walk as the sun was setting into the really smokey horizon, sinking behind some distant mountains.

I really like our east-west streets, especially at this time of year and its counterpart six months from now. (I also liked that no one was driving on this stretch of road while I was in the middle of it.) This helped me get my bearings as I watched the sun continue to sink lower and slightly to the right–exactly where the street points. And, on other days, before and after the equinox and closer to the solstice, I can use these streets to show me where the sunset drifts as the seasons ebb and flow. It’s fun to watch this change through the year, and even to take photos of the different locations of a sunset over time.

I also posted a cropped version of this photo here on Instagram, but I think I like this long, tall perspective better.

Addendum

A few years later, here’s a couple more examples of images taken on these east-west streets. These are taken a week apart from one another: