Finally, it's Springtime in Maine! Yes, I know... The temperatures remain frigid, the forecast is frightful, and the ground is still covered in snow. However, today marked the Vernal Equinox - the official first day of Spring! And when you live in Maine, ANY indication that the weather might finally become warmer is a cause to celebrate!
In addition to the excitement of Spring, yesterday we experienced the full super moon... At least that is what I hear! While others were checking out the appearance of the largest full moon in 18 years, I was homebound doing tubby, reading books and soothing one baby or another to sleep. While I had missed the moon in all its full glory, I had it on good authority that it would continue to be spectacular today. Therefore, it was imperative that I make up for what I had missed the day before! This opportunity for novelty was far too good to pass up!
In considering the ways I could make this moon viewing novel, I realized that I had never intentionally viewed the moon rise up over the horizon line. Now as a disclaimer, there was a time in my life when I spent 100 days living on a ship circumnavigating the world. It is quite likely that I have seen the moon rise over the ocean at one point or another. However, while I remember intentionally catching the sunset on an almost daily basis I have no recollection of a moonrise. And there is something about doing an activity with intention that makes it feel that much more novel and special. So this morning I decided on my novel experience for the day: I was going to watch the super moon rise over the ocean on the vernal equinox. I figure that even if I HAVE seen a moonrise in the past, I've packed enough novelty into this experience that it can not be challenged!
A little bit of research made it clear that this may take some planning. The moon was set to rise at 8:34 pm, and because today was the Vernal Equinox the moon rise is due east. One would think that living on the East Coast you could drive to any old beach to see the moon rise over the water. However, as I figured out my plan for the evening, it became clear that finding a beach that faces due east was going to be quite a challenge. In consulting with the map, and with my husband, who seems to have memorized the layout of the entire state of Maine, it seemed that our best bet for a due east viewing was actually 30 minutes north of where we live.
So, at 7:30, with Liam and Gracie both bathed and dressed in their PJs, we piled into the car in search of the moonrise. It took some amount of trial and error, but with ten minutes to spare we were parked facing due east and looking over the water. I am not exactly sure what I had expected, but as we stared out toward the horizon into the dark my husband pointed to an orange glow right at the horizon line. At first, I thought that it must be ambient light from a nearby town, but as the orange glow grew brighter and higher I realized that it was the moon. And honestly, watching that moonrise was one of the most spectacular things I have ever experienced. The pictures could never do it justice.
While I was truly awe struck by this experience, I am left with a nagging question: how is it that I have never done this before? I have lived on the East Coast all of my life, and near the ocean for a large percentage of that time. Unlike the sunrise, the moonrise occurs during a window of time when I am typically awake. How have I missed this? What on earth have I been doing?
And then there is the second question... Where was everyone else? Before witnessing the moonrise, I was aware of two other cars that had parked along this stretch of Easterly facing ocean. Now, having done our research this was clearly the best view around, and prior to the actual moonrise I was surprised that other people had thought to do the same thing. After seeing the actual event I can not believe that there were so few people there. Where IS everybody?
The answer, of course, is that most people were in front of their televisions and/or computers. Which is also where I've been for the 10,000+ days that the moon has risen without my awareness. Before the advent of technology, I would imagine that a supermoon rising on the Vernal Equinox would probably have been given more attention. It seems that as a society we have become out of touch with nature, and I am struck by what we have lost.
That being said, how did we pull off this experience? Well first, I did a Google search on my smartphone to discover when and where the moon would be rising, then I pulled up Google Maps on said phone to look at the local coastline and figure out where we could view the moon rising over the water, then we used the GPS navigation on the same smartphone, (plus the compass feature), to find the best location for viewing. After parking, I pulled up Google Skymap, an app that lets me point my phone toward the sky and tells me what celestial objects I am looking at, to locate exactly where the moon would be rising. Upon the moonrise, I turned my phone into a camera and took photographs, which I then uploaded directly to Facebook after statusing about what I was doing... While my husband drove us home, I fielded emails and comments about my photos and status from friends around the world... again on my smartphone. Technology played an integral part in our process to make this experience happen...
Is there a moral to this story? I am honestly not sure... but I know that I am changed from this experience. And I KNOW that this will not be the last moonrise I will be witnessing!
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