Clinging to the last sunset

I began the final day of the year in a place that is a long way from a ball drop in Times Square. It’s a place where people go to watch the sun rise and drop; a place that, according to data collected by sound experts, might be the quietest spot on Earth — the volcanic crater at Haleakala National Park in Maui. I chose to end the year in Haleakala partly because it seemed like a natural bookend to the start of the year — a New Year’s Day sunrise in Acadia National Park in Maine — and partly because of the story behind the name (which means “House of the Sun”). According to ancient...

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