November Highlights

• City living with trips to Detroit and Minneapolis
• Nature always wins, Lakeshore has been destroyed again
• The second fewest photos taken in a month, second only to March, which is half as many photos taken in January and June
• When counting photos from Marquette, the sun was only visible at sunrise twice this month
• Possibly the month with the most photos of man-made structures, skyscrapers, interstates, lifeguard towers, and sculptures

November Weather

Coldest Sunrise

-3ºF

Avg. temp

22ºF

Hottest Sunrise

35ºF

The sun was visible for 6 of 30 sunrises.

November Overview

I wrote a joke.

Was the sun visible this month? Nopevember.

And suddenly November is over. The madness of October is over. It’s still a busy season with shop sales and holidays (the ones I didn’t create). But my heart is with the sun. There is no doubt I’m a little emotional looking back and thinking I’ve done this for eleven months. Which means, according to the plan anyhow, that only one month of this project remains. The only time I’ve had this sort of feeling was when I made it to Louisiana as the 25th state of the Hometown Invasion Tour, and then arriving in Ohio which was suddenly the 47th state, and the next thing I knew I was on a plane to Alaska, the only state I had never been to. A few more days pass, and I’m back in Michigan, the official 50th state of a year-long 50-state road trip.

What is it about a single year commitment that means so much to us? It’s reinforced with our emphasis on birthdays and anniversaries and annual holidays. More than ever, thanks to a certain Beatrice, I’m thinking more about just how sentimental and ritualistic I am. Perhaps in an unhealthy way at times, or at least in a way that prevents me from some highly sought after goals.

My favorite quote from David Thoreau’s “Walking” is, “In one half-hour I can walk off to some portion of the earth’s surface where a man does not stand from one year’s end to another.” The book is referenced a number of times throughout this journal (notwithstanding Beatrice’s contention). But it brings me to this… in one year (or half-year?) I can achieve some ambition where nobody has … Ok, it’s not quite finished yet. One more month.

Songs of November

Music has played a large role in this year's journey. These are the songs that were the theme of November, the ones that were playing in my car stereo on the way to sunrise, in my headphones while editing photos, and the ones being shared with those closeest to me. Check out the entire playlist.

November Sunrise Locations