star gazing

I slept under the stars for the first time this weekend. I followed the advice of a friend and set up my sleeping bag on a nice patch of earth and my tent was the night sky and the milky way. I have done my fair share of star gazing, but there something very primal about sleeping outdoors without a tent. The absence of light pollution in the desert gives one fantastic views of our galaxy and even more than the musical venue I came here to see, mother nature stole th show.

I camped in the high desert in central Washington with some friends this weekend. It was a 5 hour drive to the gorge campsite and amphitheatre. The gorge is an outdoor venue run by the House of Blues on the banks of the Columbia River in the high deserts of Central WAshingtons. Watching dmb play outdoors was pretty impressive. The weather in this region is really dry and warm during the days and cools off considerably at night -perfect concert weather. The sun was setting in the west over the columbia river which formed an ideal backdrop for the show. There were at least 25 thousand people in and around the campsite and venue this weekend. I met some really interesting marine biologists originally from Florida and the UK who were living and working in the Seattle/Vancouver area.

On our drive home, we had the opportunity to see Mt St Helens up close and for the first time I saw the effects of the shockwave when she blew her top off last in 1980!.It would have been difficult to imagine that type of force without having seen everything around her. She is still smoking and the entire area around the volcano shows signs of the how powerful this force of nature really is. The Indians called Helens "Fire mountain" and I today I see why.