I’m just home from a short 3 day camping trip in the tip of Michigan’s thumb. It was my first camping trip outside my backyard of the season and I went to spend some time at a dark sky park that’s tucked into the dune grass along Saginaw Bay a few miles up the road from the state park campground.
A pretty minimal site, but I wasn’t there for the camping.
It was a last minute decision when our local weather person predicted clear skies and good views of a meteor shower.
I wandered on the drive up to my campsite on Tuesday afternoon through miles and miles of flat farmland which was filled with….you guessed it….barns!
You can’t beat red barns and puffy clouds!
So, while you might think this post would be filled with dark skies and bright stars you’d be wrong. At least for now.
The wheat is already harvested, mostly it’s soy beans and corn waiting to ripen now.
I knew you’d want to see the barns, it’s been way too long since I did a post about barns, and they are one of my favorite things to hunt down.
This was my favorite barn of the trip up, but notice the sky is filling with clouds.
And once I arrived at my campsite I had to go check out the dark sky park, to make strategic plans about where I might want to set up for prime star gazing.
Lots of low dunes and a few trees might make the perfect place for star gazing.
It’s a pretty little park with a huge parking lot and a viewing platform. But I found the low dunes and grasses more interesting.
I didn’t notice this dragonfly when I took the shot. But I like that he photo-bombed my image.
I also noticed all the clouds accumulating and wondered whether I’d have clear skies that night. But the weather guy said I would, so I tried not to worry.
If I weren’t there for stars I’d have been thrilled with the beautiful clouds.
That evening the sun went down amid the clouds in a pretty little show.
Waiting on the sun to sink.
I sat on a platform overlooking the Bay. Last year in June Katie and I visited this park, sat right here to watch the sun set. I was missing my girl, but it was much too hot for her to go camping with me. She was home enjoying air conditioning with her dad.
A nice place to watch the sky turn colors.
I went down to the beach to explore a little as I waited. High water in the Great Lakes have turned the beach into such a narrow strip of sand you could hardly call it a beach at all.
This split rail fence used to mark the beginning of the beach. Now it’s part of the bay.
The sky was pretty, but I was impatient for the show to be over so that I could scoot up to the dark sky park and see what I was there to see.
Just a bit north of the actual sun the clouds were turning pink.
Finally the sun gave up it’s grip on the day and settled with a sigh into the water.
The end of a pretty day.
The clouds seemed to be dispersing, so I was hopeful as I headed up the the night sky park. There were perhaps a dozen cars filled with other people hoping to see some meteor action.
I was hoping for stars.
And as the sky got dark an immediate problem became evident. The half moon was high in the sky and shining brightly. I checked my phone and learned that the moon would set at 1:30. I figured I could wait it out. But the longer we all sat there the more clouds moved in until even the bright moon was obscured. By midnight I gave up and headed back to camp for some sleep, not having taken a single shot.
I had one more night there, and I just knew the sky would be clear! The weather guy said so!
Stay tuned.
At least the barns were pretty.
Change Is Hard 