We went out to see the Leonid meteor shower on Saturday night. It was really hard to find a place that was dark enough to see them properly. Even the city parks were lit up. We drove around, past parking lots, shopping centers, and apartment complexes ablaze with light. Finally we found a campground and drove in there, parked illegally (because there is no parking for people who aren't staying the night), and lay in a field watching the sky. The stars were tiny flecks of light. The sky was darkest overhead, washing out to a pale grey glow at the edges. We saw five or six shooting stars during the time that we lay there.
The Leonids always make me happy, and I was glad to see even a few of them, but I couldn't help thinking of a night I spent under the stars on a camping trip, years ago. The stars were enormous - blazing blue-white, all different sizes, with the Milky Way smeared behind them. They took my breath away. We saw many shooting stars that night, and it wasn't even a meteor shower, just a regular night in the country. It makes me sad that an experience like that is out of reach except for special trips, and so few people get to experience it at all. A whole generation is growing up without having ever seen a shooting star.
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