M arquette is a sunrise town. From South Beach to Little Presque Isle includes over fourteen miles of eastward facing shoreline, featuring an array of breakwaters, sandy beaches, rocky cliffs, islands, lighthouses and panoramic views of Lake Superior.

Since 2014 it has been home. Since Year of the Sunrise began, it has become something more. Many of these locations aren’t just familiar places of home, but places I feel an intimate connection with, where I could walk blindfolded and know where each and every root is. That’s how it feels anyway, but I would definitely trip and break my face.

It’s hard to imagine taking on this journey in other places. When the sunrises do become monotonous, it’s only because of laziness, never for a shortage of new vantage points to explore. With a handful of local coffee shops to choose from each morning and a support arts and downtown community, life after sunrise is quite fitting as well.

As the kids would say, it’s a vibe.

Of the 1,425 published sunrises, 91.1% have been photographed from Marquette. Yet there are so many places I haven’t been, and so many places I haven’t been back to in different seasons. I still need to do better at getting to some lesser known places, and sucking it up and getting out the door earlier to get to them.

This wouldn’t be complete without acknowledging the hard work of the Marquette parks department. Sometimes on those earliest or most uninspired sunrises, it’s just me and the park department employees out there. I’m not sure what they think of seeing me out there all the time, but I’m routinely impressed with their work ethic to keep tidy the places I so frequently make use of. Leslie Knope would be proud.

From baristas to neighbors to customers to tourists to fellow beach goers and everyone in between, thank you Marquette, for being home during my sunrise years.