Star Gazing

The first two weeks of August have been all about the stars.

On the weekend of August 6th and 7th, I joined my friends to go on a yearly trip to Vermont endearingly called the "All Night Costume Dance Party."  The event started as a birthday celebration, and has turned into a yearly reunion and summer celebration.

The area where the party happens is called Quarry Hill, right by Rochester, Vermont.  There's no phone reception, and thus no internet on my phone.  It's the one time I really get to go camping.

Now, let me be honest here.  I'm a city girl through and through, and I don't pretend to be anything else.  This one weekend of camping is mainly about having an awesome time out in nature with awesome people.

And while the all-night dancing and blueberry pancakes in the morning is pretty awesome, there's just something about being around a bonfire under a sky full of stars.

Quarry Hill bonfire.

I wish I had a camera that could take a picture of those stars.  Being a city girl, I am used to the city glare being part of the night sky, though I am often to see a couple of stars here and there.  In Los Angeles, I can often spot the constellation of Orion. 

But being in Vermont, the stars and the moon are the main source of light.  I couldn't even begin to name any stars.  It's so beautiful.

To add to the beauty, the Perseid Meteor Showers have been crossing the sky.  To celebrate the boyfriend and two other guy friends' birthdays, we decided to head out to Boston's South Shore area to do some meteor watching.

The Perseid Meteor Showers is a yearly phenomenon that happens around late July to mid August.  In the past, I don't know if we had ever been able to see them, so it was great to make a plan to watch them this year.

Whoever decided on those constellations were tripping out, man...

We ended up finding our way to World's End in Hingham (pronounced "Hing-am," for you non Massachusetts folks), though we were mainly looking for a dark enough area to enjoy the stars.  It was amazingly appropriate to end up there.

World's End

So, the 7 of us set up our picnic blankets and sleeping beds and got settled in for another all-night event.  We snacked on some delicious goodies, and laughed about really random things.  We would  point and "oooh" and "aaah" at all the meteors we would spot.  It was amazing to see so many shooting stars, some back to back from each other.

I honestly don't know if there could have been a better way for the first two weekends of August, considering that this is the last full month of summer.  I feel blessed to have been able to spend so much time in nature with great friends.

Let's hope that the next couple of weekends are just as awesome, even if I don't get to spend more time under the stars.