Last week I went camping..

Last week I went camping and I remembered that I actually like to be outside.

That is a pretty weird statement, but after 3 years of pandemic, my world has very much shrunk down to the size of my house and the houses of those I’m podded up with. This spring, I didn’t even bother putting in a garden. I live at this keyboard, and in adapting to a life inside I forgot about the world outside.

And wow that world has changed. Or at least the sky has changed.

Last weekend, I went camping at Wayne Fitzgerrell State Park with a couple friends and a goal of watching the tau Herculid meteor shower. Miraculously, the skies were clear and dark and it was easy to pick out all the moving dots in the sky.

Most of those moving dots were lightning bugs. That was unexpected. I never thought I’d have to worry about my night vision being wrecked by a self-illuminating insect. Now I know… these things can and do happen.

When not mistaking shooting lightning bugs for shooting stars, I was also overcome by the sheer number of naked-eye satellites. Over the years, I’ve gotten to go to some of the darkest spots in the world, and I’ve enjoyed the random specialness of catching a satellite pass. I still remember where I was when I spotted a satellite for the first time. I remember when bright satellites were easy to identify with Heavens-Above because there were so few possibilities. This trip… it was non-stop satellites for the first few hours after sunset.