Vacation to the Stars

Posted by Kelly Whitt Aug 24, 2008

I just returned home from a week-plus vacation to the American West. Just east of the Rockies the skies are often sunny, which means a chance for starry nights. The lower population also allows for less light pollution.

As we headed west through North Dakota, we saw an exit for "Home on the Range". As the song says, "the skies are not cloudy all day". And it was true - I looked up and saw no clouds. Our first night out west I was too tired to stargaze. The next night, the famed clear western skies grew dark and it rained. And the next day it rained. And the next day it rained. Every day we spent in the mountains of Montana we had passing showers and patchy evening skies.

By the time we headed home it cleared out. Our first night coming home we stopped at Mount Rushmore just as it was closing. The monument was lit up and would be for the next few hours. What I enjoyed most about the view, though, was seeing the Big Dipper sitting perfectly above the monument, leading visitors to scan from the faces on the rock, to the Big Dipper, to the stars above.