I tried to spot a meteor the other night. The Perseid meteor shower was putting on its annual show, and the local news was saying we were in a “great” area for viewing. Actually, remembering that there was a meteor shower was somewhat accidental. Our dog Pearl woke up in the middle of the night and was tap dancing around our floors, so at two in the morning I took her outside. As I looked up at the clear sky, I remembered that the meteor shower was happening that evening, and it was supposed to be at its peak around that time.

So I found the darkest spot I could and tilted my head back. Then I waited.

The problem, of course, was that I was still surrounded by civilization. There was just too much light pollution. Streetlights, porch lights, houses, and that general glow that hangs over everything at night. I may have seen one meteor streak across the sky, I’m not completely sure. It could have been a meteor, or it could have been my eyes really wanting to see one.

As I sat in the backyard, willing my eyes to see through the haze, I was taken back to a time when I lived in Georgia and got to see the Leonid meteor shower. For that meteor shower I hiked into the mountains of North Georgia and found a spot on the side of Blood Mountain to watch. I decided against pitching my tent, instead just rolling out a sleep mat and tucking into my sleeping bag under the stars. At 4,458 feet, I was up nice and high, the weather was cold and crisp, and the sky was perfectly clear. There wasn’t much between me and the stars. More importantly, there were no lights for miles and miles around. No streetlights. No buildings glowing in the distance. Just darkness and sky.

I lay there for hours watching, and it was absolutely incredible. There was at least a meteor a minute, if not more. It kept me mesmerized and awake for the entire night, just marveling at the heavens. The crazier thing, given the stillness and quiet, was that there were quite a few of those meteors that I could hear ripping across the sky, sort of like the sound something hot makes when it hits water.

I guess that’s sort of what I was hoping for this week. I’d planned to wake the rest of the family if I started to see meteors, but except for one flash across the sky, I didn’t spot any. But that’s alright, it was a beautiful night, the stars were glowing, and I got to walk down memory lane through the mountains.

P.S. If you like shiny, sparkly things like meteors, don’t forget that the Kerby’s Treasure Tower is open – the largest Gem-Mining Sluice in the area!