Serenity Project – July 2017

It’s almost embarrassing to admit that only about 3 years ago that I saw the Milky Way Galaxy with my own eyes.  Having lived in the populous San Francisco Bay Area all my life and never venturing out of suburbia while growing up, I was what you would call a city girl.  So it may sound silly but I am still in awe of a sky full of stars (not just a few).  Gazing up at stars that burned thousands or even million years ago really boggles my mind but in a calm way.

Last month, I had an anniversary trip planned for Lake Tahoe but as Murphy’s Law would have it, my kid got sick and we were forced to cancel.  However, even though we didn’t get to do an overnight stay, we had a chance to go out a few hours for two nights. The trip was planned around the Milky Way Galaxy schedule and I didn’t want to miss it so I quickly searched for someplace within a decent drive from home that we could experience the night sky.

First night was at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse in Pescadero, California.  Pescadero is still part of the Bay Area but it’s location actually affords some decent night sky viewing.

As we drove to the lighthouse, the moon was setting.

I used the Sun Surveyor, Light Pollution Map, and Clear Skies mobile apps to find this location.   I have never been to this place so I was lucky that I got a close up view of the lighthouse to use as the foreground for the Milky Way.   This was about six images for the panoramic stitch.

A slightly different edit on the lighthouse to give it a more run down feel.

The light turned on about every 8 seconds.

I had to time it just right to get the lights off.

The next night we visited our old favorite, Pinnacles National Park.  Even though we have gone through this particular trail to the reservoir, we got lost because things just look very different at night!  At Pinnacles, it was much, much darker than at Pescadero.

This is about 12-14 images  for the panoramic stitch.

Go see what serenity image Wendy has taken on the Serenity Circle.