The area absorbs much solar heat, and there are about 2,500 hours of sunshine each year.
For in the sunshine, each minute, dozens of efforts are being defined.
On any other day this would have been weird — Santa Fe has 320 days of sunshine each year — but on the day of the Great American Eclipse it seemed like a cruel joke.
And here, on one of many outdoor tables, is owner Margot Henderson and influential chef husband Fergus (of St John fame), sitting in the watery sunshine, each wearing one of the straw hats that hang on the restaurant's wall.
Our weather in July was essentially perfect, with sunshine each day, highs in the mid-80's and lows around 40. Guests stay in clean and comfortable log cabins (both individual, two-family and four-room private quarters) with fireplaces, coffee makers, small, modern bathrooms with showers and decks overlooking the river.
Students can look forward to 300 days of sunshine each year, but with one of the highest GNPs per capita in the world and 30,000 residents squeezed onto a tiny two-square kilometre strip of land, isn't Monaco a prohibitively expensive place to be a student?
Add to that stunning views of the Flatiron Mountains, a wealth of hiking trails, more than 300 days of sunshine each year, proximity to some of the world's best ski resorts, and a culinary and brewing scene that is good enough to regularly entice neighbours from Denver, and there is plenty in Boulder to raise a glass to.
San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara, California: "About 300 days of sunshine each year". 7. Provo/Orem, Utah: "An intoxicating blend of city culture and outdoor recreation, with fishing, hiking, and rafting all just a stone's throw away". 8. Bridgeport/Stamford, Connecticut: "Endless cultural experiences nearby.
Several of my favorite films over the past two decades were modestly budgeted vehicles: "American Beauty" cost $15 million, while "Pulp Fiction" and "Little Miss Sunshine" each came in at $8 million.
We take a tab each of orange sunshine LSD and we're laughing at pretty much everything, sitting on a window ledge, about five feet up, watching people on Hollywood Boulevard.
