The Milky Way?
There was nothing much going on today, so I mostly just sat around the camper. It's also a cloudless day with blue skies stretching in every direction, typical for New Mexico.
But cloudless blue skies are not ideal for picture-taking purposes. In fact, back in the old days, they used to be a waste of film. But there's a small chance of a few clouds late this afternoon, so I'll have to hope that the clouds appear before the sun goes down, not after.
I've been thinking about trying to get a picture of the "Milky Way" one of these days. The main thing to consider is that you need a really dark sky to even see it. And it just so happens that this Sunday is a new moon, which will make the sky very dark, and since I am happily ensconced at the City of Rocks State Park, which is somewhat famous for being one of those rare places without any major cities nearby that produces lots of light, and is officially considered a place with very dark skies.
This all sounds well and good, except that from what I'm reading on the Internet, the Milky Way only appears between the hours of midnight and 5 AM. I don't think the Milky Way could've picked a worse time to find me awake since my normal sleeping hours are 9 PM till 6 AM, and I'm fairly set in my ways when it comes to getting a good night's sleep. And I guess that since the Milky Way is moving through the sky during those hours, somewhere around 3 AM would be when picture taking is best.
All that leaves me with three choices...
1…. Stay awake until 3 a.m.
2... Go to bed at my regular time and set my alarm clock to 3 o'clock in the morning.
3... Forget about taking a picture of the stupid Milky Way, nobody's interested in it anyway.
These are all viable options; only time will tell which one I choose. However, I can identify with number three because my personality is most suited to procrastination and ambivalence.
Theboondork
The old windmill that used to provide water for the City of Rocks State Park.
The sun rising over the mountains, highlighting the hookup campsites.
Everything in the desert sticks, stings, or bites. And it has to because the desert is a tough environment, so only the tough survive here.