Ian asked to go camping - so I picked this weekend and we went to City of Rocks State Park, about two hours away from here. Leah didn't want to go and Catherine had a scrapbooking thing, so it was just the boys.
We went to Sparky's for lunch - I don't think either of us would ever pass up Sparky's! From there, we took the scenic route through the Gila National Forest. I forgot how awesome that road is!
I planned this weekend to time it for a new moon - meaning dark skies all night long. Unfortunately, it got more and more cloudy as we got closer. That didn't stop us from taking a little hike to explore the place.
We got back and set up our tent, and I lamented about the weather, thinking that the clouds were too extensive for even a good sunset. Boy was I wrong!
I was cooking dinner, and kept running from the stove to the camera to snap some more photos, the light just kept getting better and better.
The weather app I have said it would clear off near midnight, so we settled in for a strawberry/rhubarb cobbler in the dutch oven, which turned out fantastic.
While that was cooking, the dense clouds magically disappeared, so I could take some dark sky photos. I took some photos of the Cygnus and Gemini constellations, and turned my big lens on to Orion for some (hopefully) better shots of the Orion and Running Man nebulas (top right) and the horse head and the sword and flame nebulas (bottom left). Totally worked!
Unfortunately, the wind picked up a bit in the morning and our canopy was destroyed. It was still relatively new, but had served me well through my Utah trips and through NM. There was no place to stake it out...bummer.
Cheers,
Marc
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