Perseid Meteor Shower
It was a Saturday afternoon when Jacek, Alon, Luke and I headed out to the desert in hope of viewing the Perseid meteor shower. I read that the Moon would be out of the way, leaving dark skies for good viewing as our planet plunges through an ancient stream of comet debris.
It was pretty evident who organized the weekend camp. Jacek, the owner of the 4x4 vehicle looked like Rambo wearing military pants, heavy duty boots, and carrying a large sharp knife that could probably slice through my apple with just the weight of the blade. He shook his head in dismay as he glanced over at my beloved Chaco sandals and warned me that I'd be on my own if the thorn of a Cactus sliced through my foot. With my sandals firmly in place, Luke, Alon and I hopped into the truck as we headed on our Journey to the Anza Borrego Desert.
A few hours later we had pretty much reached the desert. It was around 7pm and the outside temperature gauge in the car surpassed 100 degrees! In that moment I realized that my sweatshirt would be staying in the car. We stopped a moment to take a glance at the rocky dirt road the car would be going through to reach our destination.
Jacek proudly proclaimed his vehicle's 4wd capabilities as we enjoyed the bouncy ride of the unpaved and rocky dirt road leading the deserted land. Jacek parked his car in front of a cliff we were to hike up to reach our star gazing spot.
The hike was pretty adventurous considering that it had turned so dark we could barely see. I don't know about Luke and Jacek but it was certainly a new experience for Alon and I. Once we reached the top, we all took off our shirts due to the heat, picked a spot and hung out as we waited for the meteors to burn.
The night was full of food, wine, talks, arguments, star gazing, with the sounds of our guitars and singing filling the atmosphere. Alon was essentially our Bob Dylan playing song after song with exceptional talent.
The sky was simply amazing with twinkling stars shining brighter and crisper than one could ever see in the city. As meteors flew by all of us would say Ohhhhhhh... Uuuhhhhhh... Ahhhhhhh admiring the flaming beauty in the sky. It was beautiful to see little bits in the sky being vaporized in the Earth's atmosphere, creating sometimes-dramatic "shooting stars."
As much as I tried I was unable to capture the sparkling sky with my camera since it didn't allow for an exposure longer than 3 minutes :( Perhaps in my next camera (or maybe I need to look in the manual again..).
Around 3am as I was laying and gazing at the stars my eyes started to grow heavy. I hear a bit of rustle thinking it must be my friend Luke wandering about but as I open my eyes I'm greeted with the amazing eyes of a Coyote within 2-3 feet of me! I jumped up as fast as lightning with my heart beating and the Coyote, just as startled by my action, quickly runs away. Throughout the night I would hear the animals wandering close by and always wondered if I was going to be desert after they eat our food.
I stayed up all night gazing at the stars, thinking, listening to audiobooks and right as I was about to fall asleep around 5am Luke wakes me up and says.. Rishi.. you might want to get up and take photographs. He was right - how often to I get to photograph a beautiful morning sunrise in the desert. So I walk over to the edge of the cliff and wait for the beautiful sun to arise...
Within minutes of the sun rising, everyone woke up. The intensity of the sun was overwhelming and we all knew we had to pack up and hike down the cliff before we were cooked in the desert Microwave.
So how did I enjoy my trip? The heat was treacherous - the night animals were scary - I didn't sleep one second.... but as one might say, some nights are worth staying up for. Our night at the desert was one of those nights.
It was pretty evident who organized the weekend camp. Jacek, the owner of the 4x4 vehicle looked like Rambo wearing military pants, heavy duty boots, and carrying a large sharp knife that could probably slice through my apple with just the weight of the blade. He shook his head in dismay as he glanced over at my beloved Chaco sandals and warned me that I'd be on my own if the thorn of a Cactus sliced through my foot. With my sandals firmly in place, Luke, Alon and I hopped into the truck as we headed on our Journey to the Anza Borrego Desert.
A few hours later we had pretty much reached the desert. It was around 7pm and the outside temperature gauge in the car surpassed 100 degrees! In that moment I realized that my sweatshirt would be staying in the car. We stopped a moment to take a glance at the rocky dirt road the car would be going through to reach our destination.
Jacek proudly proclaimed his vehicle's 4wd capabilities as we enjoyed the bouncy ride of the unpaved and rocky dirt road leading the deserted land. Jacek parked his car in front of a cliff we were to hike up to reach our star gazing spot.
The hike was pretty adventurous considering that it had turned so dark we could barely see. I don't know about Luke and Jacek but it was certainly a new experience for Alon and I. Once we reached the top, we all took off our shirts due to the heat, picked a spot and hung out as we waited for the meteors to burn.
The night was full of food, wine, talks, arguments, star gazing, with the sounds of our guitars and singing filling the atmosphere. Alon was essentially our Bob Dylan playing song after song with exceptional talent.
The sky was simply amazing with twinkling stars shining brighter and crisper than one could ever see in the city. As meteors flew by all of us would say Ohhhhhhh... Uuuhhhhhh... Ahhhhhhh admiring the flaming beauty in the sky. It was beautiful to see little bits in the sky being vaporized in the Earth's atmosphere, creating sometimes-dramatic "shooting stars."
As much as I tried I was unable to capture the sparkling sky with my camera since it didn't allow for an exposure longer than 3 minutes :( Perhaps in my next camera (or maybe I need to look in the manual again..).
Around 3am as I was laying and gazing at the stars my eyes started to grow heavy. I hear a bit of rustle thinking it must be my friend Luke wandering about but as I open my eyes I'm greeted with the amazing eyes of a Coyote within 2-3 feet of me! I jumped up as fast as lightning with my heart beating and the Coyote, just as startled by my action, quickly runs away. Throughout the night I would hear the animals wandering close by and always wondered if I was going to be desert after they eat our food.
I stayed up all night gazing at the stars, thinking, listening to audiobooks and right as I was about to fall asleep around 5am Luke wakes me up and says.. Rishi.. you might want to get up and take photographs. He was right - how often to I get to photograph a beautiful morning sunrise in the desert. So I walk over to the edge of the cliff and wait for the beautiful sun to arise...
Within minutes of the sun rising, everyone woke up. The intensity of the sun was overwhelming and we all knew we had to pack up and hike down the cliff before we were cooked in the desert Microwave.
So how did I enjoy my trip? The heat was treacherous - the night animals were scary - I didn't sleep one second.... but as one might say, some nights are worth staying up for. Our night at the desert was one of those nights.
