It is the Monday after Skip’s BIG 30th High School Reunion, and unlike Las Vegas, things do not stay there!
He could not afford to spend much time, but he did manage to visit some of the more cherished places.
It is hard to believe that over 30 years ago, Skip first walked down this same slate path into his future…
Looking at the Main Entrance
As he walked through the doors and passed the various announcement boards and into the common room, where he paused and looked.
There it was, at the other end of the dining hall.
The mural of the school’s foundation, that stared at him, during all his meals those many years ago.
Dining Hall Mural
He walked down the small set of stairs, and moved into the room, where he took this picture.
In the back of his mind, he heard a little voice saying he was about to receive three marks.
He scampered the rest of the way into the hallway, turning right and headed out to to the lawn.
SAS Garth and Steeple
While taking this picture, the clock bells chimed, triggering a distance memory of days gone by, and reminding him that his time to leave was closely approaching.
He walked back across the lawn, reentering the building, looking for that room where he made another cameo appearance several years back.
O Captain! My Captain!
Snickering to himself, he knew he had to get back to his boat.
He stayed just long enough for the Class Reunion photo…
I have always enjoying looking up into the night-time sky, and following the rhythms of our solar system is something I follow daily online.
Lately, I have been keeping my eye on the rare alignment of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury in the west-northwest about 30 minutes after sunset. The next time this will happen, is in 2026.
Being Friday night, I had to go out and try to see this!
The whole week has been hotter than normal for this time of year, and I hoped the cover of night would help.
The dam parking lot had two other cars when I arrived, and as I unpacked, a jogger going downhill, turned and entered the park.
MCSP Sunset & Fishing
Because of the heat and humidity, I packed my equipped vest into the daypack, and threw it over my shoulder, along with my camera and tripod, and headed into the park.
Heading down the hill, it got darker because of the overhanging trees and leaves, but the light grey colored maintenance road made it easier to follow with the ambient light.
When I got to the opening at the bottom of the dam, and I could see I was a little late in getting there, but I still had time.
I took the steep dirt path through the tall grass to the south-eastern corner area of the lake. The ‘flea and tick season’ phrase kept repeating itself in my head.
I finally reached the dirt road at the top, panting heavily and thinking that I should have brought along a second water bottle, while the jogger I had seen earlier, passed by me, and off into the increasing darkness.
Once setup, I could see that most of the sky was clear, but there was a thin bands of clouds, hovering in the distance, just above the treetops, in the northwest sky, right where my compass was aimed at 300°.
I was a little bummed, but as the 30 minute mark began to approach, I did see a bright spot right where it should be, and not moving. Could this be one of the planets?
I took numerous pictures of the sunset, and rising ‘planet’, and then started to focus my attention on the various fishing boats with lights, motoring silent around the lake.
Light Fishing at MCSP
As one boat crossed in front of me, I heard –
“You can not take his picture. He is in the witness relocation program.”
Followed by chuckles from the boat.
Responding back, with a smiling tone, I said that my camera did not have the resolution, and that they were going to fast.
As 9:30 approached, and fending off the mosquitoes was becoming impossible, I packed up, crossing over the rest of the dam, turning sharply to my left, and down the diagonal road.
Jupiter and Venus over Marsh Creek State Park
Walking next to the marshy area, I saw fireflies signaling their presence, and at the bottom, I could see that I was going to need my headlamp, as I started back into the darker section of the road. I had not been here before at night, so I did not know what I might encounter.
When the light flashed on, I was greeted by a thin fog that reflexed back the bright light, making it more difficult to see. I turned the lamp down, be it did not help. Maybe next time, I’ll get the headlamp with multi-colors.
Finally, I reached the brown swinging gate at the top of the trail, and headed into the parking lot, where I threw my gear into the car, and headed home.
Note to Self – Next time, bring two water bottles and bug spray…
[contentblock id=1]
Updates
After processing several series of images, it seems that I might have ‘caught’ Venus and Jupiter in my captures, with Jupiter being just too faint to see with the naked eye.
Hey, I am just like another human who buys lottery tickets… Someone has to win!
When I was a kid, getting the Publishers Clearing House envelope was allot of fun.
It contained a large sheet of magazine stamps, that you had to disassemble, then lick the back and paste it to the choice cards.
See the problem yet?
Now in the digital age, with social media, we can enter contests and giveaways all day long, by clicking a few buttons, and exposing our personal data, all for the sake of a new ‘toy’.
With that being said, and the reason for this post, is to try and ‘earn’ 25 Bonus Entries for a new camera, and all I have to do is place the following in my blog –
and now I have to reply to the email, along with the URL of this post, and within the “next 24 hours and we’ll award you 25 bonus entries. If you need more than 24 hours, no worries we’ll still provide you with 20 bonus entries.”
