You Know It's Summer In Alaska When...

You Know It’s Summer In Alaska When…

What are you expecting? A weather report? (mild weather mostly, 60-80˚ most days) The best place to be on Summer Solstice? (anywhere your family is! or maybe isn’t?) The best thing to do in Alaska in the summer? (ALL OF IT!) When does the sun go down in Alaska? (does it ever really go down?) What to pack for a vacation to Alaska? (EASY read my list!) I’ve compiled my list of “You Know It’s Summer In Alaska When _________ ” answers from real Alaskans and boy are they good! Read on and learn!

You Know It’s Summer In Alaska When…

Suns out Guns Out–yep it’s true if it’s even slightly warm people will wear shorts and tank tops
you witness the creative exposure of tattoos–if the weather seems too cold for shorts, but you see someone in shorts, you can bet your buns there’s a calf tattoo in the mix
you kiss your better half and your lips go numb from bug dope
it’s 5 o’clock but is that am or pm?? Who knows really!
you start the day in jeans and polar fleece, at 10 you switch to a t-shirt and jeans, at one pm you switch to shorts and t-shirt, 3 pm brings a tank top and shorts, 4:30 you run inside to get out of the rain, and put all your clothes back, then by 6 pm you’re back to a t-shirt and jeans, by 10 pm you’ve put the polar fleece back on
you’re mowing the lawn at 10 pm, and so is your neighbor
you actually get tired of eating ALL. THE. SALMON.
you get a sunburn at 11 pm
every road spontaneously bursts into road construction
you carry bug dope in your car and all your purses/backpacks
you turn your car air conditioning on, and realize it is 58°
bedtime, what’s bedtime??
you remove a Fishhook out of someone, in the ER. Or take someone to the ER to get a fishing hook removed. Or do it yourself…
it hits 60, and people start leaving their windows open all night
you start fishing at 10 PM through 12 am to catch two days of fish limits in 2 hours
you start thinking about what to make for dinner at 8:30
you can’t sleep, or get woken up by the incessant buzzing of a mosquito you can’t find
you could easily go to a party every weekend, but carve out time to go fishing instead
there are 14 cool events EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND!
your town is overrun by tourists from the lower 48 wearing flip-flops and asking what the exchange rate is
…zucchini
when every dish has rhubarb or some kind of berry in it
when you’re sitting around a campfire with friends and don’t realize it’s past your kid’s bedtime but it’s totally worth it
when you are stuck in road construction, waiting for the pilot car, only to reach the free highway to be stuck behind a motorhome going 15 mph slower than the speed limit
you don’t need a porch light at night
it’s raining, and you need your long underwear or wool sweater
you carry bear spray, bug spray, sunscreen and water on every hike, you don’t know!
you break your sunglasses killing a mosquito
when your kids won’t, and I mean- NO force on earth can make them- go to sleep before 11 pm
you have no idea what time it is! Actually, that could just as easily be mid-winter
when you even consider shaving your legs
when your guests from out of state decide they want to go out to eat and it’s 11:00 pm
you go to bed 3 hours before you have to be to work in the morning
you ignore the garden for a couple of days and … chickweed
there’s the buzzing of mosquitos in your ear at night
you wear the same clothes you did in winter just layer up differently

Surprise!

There you go, a list of ways you can tell it’s summer in Alaska. I mean it’s not like the lack of snow would give it away, right? So ONE of these was supplied by a Facebook friend who doesn’t even live in Alaska. Can you guess which one??