Over the weekend two of the kids and I drove to Cherry Springs State Park in northern Pennsylvania to enjoy some very dark nighttimes. Cherry Springs is an "international dark site" where the park does it's very best to keep all excess light out so the night sky can be enjoyed in all it's beauty.
It really is amazing just how much light pollution that we, as a society, suffer through, and it's almost not noticeable until you're in darkness and see the difference. Being able to look up and outright see the Milky Way was just striking.
All of these photo's were taken with the same settings:
- ISO 800
- 28 mm
- 30 second exposure
- f/2.8
What I really would have liked for these pictures was a 14mm with f/1.8 or f/1.4. Alas, what I do not have is a 14mm with f/1.8 or f/1.4. I do have a 50mm f/1.4, but a 50mm actually gets you to close to the stars and they begin to streak as they move. At the risk of man-splaining aperture, a wider aperture would have allowed more light to reach the sensor, allowing for brighter colours and a more vibrant Milky Way. As it is, I did the best that I could with the equipment that I had/have, and otherwise spent the night in awe of the night sky.
Now, pictures first, and more story later.
And now the story of the weekend.
We found an airbnb cabin and scheduled a few months ago. The cabin was tiny. Tiny. Absolutely tiny, but it was adorable. It was pretty obvious to me that the owner built the cabin specifically to rent out as an airbnb rental for people looking to get away and unplug. There was no internet or mobile service in the vicinity; one had to drive to the nearest town, about 20 minutes away, to get reliable service.
At least there was power, a/c, gas, and water with a shower. It was a really nice place.
The view from the front porch:
We got there about 4:00pm and spent a few minutes (it didn't take much longer than that) unpacking and setting up. And then it was time to not do much of anything. We did a little bit of looking around and found that there were only trees to be seed and birds to be heard. I loved it. There was this rather ominous looking person-sized hole in the ground, though, which framed - for me - the entire getaway as a prelude to the zombie apocalypse.
My son did bring his Wii U and Nintendo Switch, so we played some games (I know, it's not quite unplugging, but it's close) until dinner, which was eggs on the stove. After dinner The Boy decided we needed 'smores, so we had a fire out in the fire pit.
I love this next photo. It's blurry and out of focus and certainly isn't going to win any awards, but it looks like my child is being assaulted by Alligator Loki when, in fact, he's just bringing over a few more sticks for the fire.
Sleep finally happened, and I think the boy slept better than I did.
The next morning was slow and lazy. It was awesome. There were some deer out in the field that my son was able to get a picture of on his phone:
(this picture of the three deer was taken by my son on his iPhone 11; it is not mine)
While he was looking for deer I was spending some quality time in the fresh air with a coffee and some reading material.
The rest of the day was spent lazily. We drove over to Cherry Springs State Park to get a feel for the area so we knew both how to get there and where to go when we got there, drove into town for some ice cream, and also stopped by to look at this old fire tower. There's really nothing special about the fire tower other than it looks kinda cool.
That night we went to the park to star gaze and were not disappointed. It was breathtaking. It almost wants to make me drop a few thousand dollars on a new camera system.
I also did take some film photos while I was there, but I have yet to use of the film to send in for developing.
Ultimately we drove home. There was some rejoicing in the back seat when we hit a spot on the highway where a mobile signal was strong, and more rejoicing from me when I came across a spot on the highway where I could get another coffee. And then we got home, where the dog was pleased to see me.
For those interested, the pinmapple coordinates of Cherry Springs State Park are 41.661856 lat -77.823529 long. It's a beautiful place for enjoying the real night sky.
(c) All images and photographs, unless otherwise specified, are created and owned by me.
(c) Victor Wiebe
About Me
Amateur photographer. Wannabe author. Game designer. Nerd.
General all around problem-solver and creative type.
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