"i haven't really been home. i've been wandering around."

so, here's how my second night of stargazing went:

i got all ready. put on really warm clothes. gathered up my camera, phone, ipod and blankets and headed outside. it was cooler than last night. but, perfectly clear! so beautiful! so, i go around to the back and immediately think i see a large cat in the woods. maybe a fisher cat. maybe a mountain lion. i don't know. it was just something else. but, it looked like a big cat. so, now i'm all jumpy. and then i hear all these other noises. and i try and relax but i am looking over my shoulder every two seconds for other wild animals to come and bother me.

so, i decide to go back inside. it was kind of a bummer. but, i figured that i could go back in and tell you all about my adventure. and that will make up for not stargazing. although.....i did do some stargazing during the daylight today.......doesn't that make you want to read more?!!?!

yes!

so, let's go!!!! first, let's start off with some pictures i took my first night of stargazing. to prove i actually did it.


there's me, looking slightly confused. trying to keep warm. see! i was outside at nighttime!


that was the beautiful cloud curtain that was in the sky. with the moon behind the trees. isn't that beautiful?

OK! NOW BEGINS MY FRIDAY EVENING ADVENTURE::

i left the house about 6pm, i think. that's a total guess. but, my plan was to walk up the hill that's behind my house.

so, here i go:


there's like, a ski lodge. so, this place is called Storr's Hill Ski Area. it's kind of famous i suppose, because people train there for the Olympics. they have two ski jumps to practice on. and so Olympic people go on them. i would probably never go on them. and once, a few years ago, the Olympic torch was passed through here. for realz! i don't really know how that works because i don't ever follow the Olympics. but, the torch was here. cool?

so, just before this, i was standing, looking at the maps of the trails that run behind this mountain. and i see a man walking down from the lodge. and i'm like, "oh god, i'm probably tresspassing." but, i wasn't! he was merely a simple trail-goer. he stopped and we talked for a minute. told me about some of the trails. i told him i had never been up there before. he said it was really nice. i asked if i could just walk to the top of the hill, and he said, "oh yeah, absolutely." he was handsome and was wearing a red boston red sox t-shirt.


that's the tiny ski jump. at first i thought it was the only one. but then i saw the other one, which is like, huge compared to this. and i was looking at this and saying, "holy crap people jump off of this?!"


my progress up the hill. okay, this was more like a mountain. i was totally unprepared for this hike. that's the lodge from before.


up a little further......!!! one of those is my house, i think. or, that's my neighborhood. area.


that's the tiny ski jump from behind. i still had not noticed the big one at this point.


a little further! the view was getting gorgeous. and i was getting sweaty.





AND BAM!!!! just like, out of nowhere, i realized there was an EVER GIANTER ski jump!!!! look at it compared to the trees!!!! it's TOWERING over some of them!!!! crazy ski people.


wow! it's my town!!! that's the church steeple that's in the giant roundabout downtown.

AND THEN. i found it. the thing i had been looking for. the thing i had been looking for allllllll winter. the thing that comforted me those cold, lonely nights and cheered me up when i was feeling scared. the most beautiful thing to see out your window......


my star on the mountain. i hope you all remember how much this star meant to me this past winter. i could literally see it from every window of my third floor apartment. it confused and scared the heck out of me when i first saw it. that first night they lit it up. and then pretty much nobody believe me when i told them about it. and then nobody believed how beautiful it was until they saw it. you could see it from my whole town. driving on the interstate, even. it was a beautiful winter beacon. and then, one night, they shut it off. i thought they must have taken it down. but no, it still remains. waiting to be lit up again next winter. it's good to know that it's still there, even if i can't see it.

this was when i took a break and sat down :)


there's the giant ski jump on the right. and my town some more. although, from this high it looks like a small mountain village. i kind of felt like Heidi.


i wore my Ireland adventure sneakers. it was nice to put them back on for an American adventure. ps: that hill was friggen steep. see the tiny ski jump on the left. and the lodge way at the bottom.



hey! it's me outdoors!!!






i even brought up my book. remember, like i said!?? i never got to reading it, though. it was really beautiful. and quiet. up there. and i just wanted to be.

AND THEN. i said to myself, "well, my break is over. i'll walk up to the star now and then take more pictures and maybe start reading!"

and so i stand up and face the star, and what do i see staring back at me????



A DEER. i think there were two of them. but that is the one that stared at me and shook his tail. i almost lost my balence i was so scared. and i said, "HOLY CRAP."


that's him on the right. right next to my star.


see, i think he has a friend laying in the grass to his right. like, in front of that little bush. oh, they were just staring at me. and then i said, "okay i need to get out of here immediately."

and i booked it down the hill.

but then, i saw a little opening to my left and i said, "hm, maybe i'll go down here."



so i did. and i thought, "maybe this connects around to the huge cemetary on the hill."


BAM. i walked down this little pathway and down another ski trail and this opening was right behind the tiny ski jump. now i was ready to explore.



it was a beautiful cemetary. and huge!




and i was there at the perfect time of day. i kept thinking of the line from I Heart Huckabees,

GIRL: What happens in the meadow at dusk?
ALBERT: Everything. Everything. Everything.




i had never been in a cemetary at sunset before. this cemetary was very well cared for.



i liked this one.


then, there was this little roundabout with these trees and a tiny pond in the center, and the cemetary continued on the other side!



i walked over to it really hoping there wouldn't be a dead body in the water. like in the Dead Marshes from Lord of the Rings. and then wherever Harry and Dumbledore are at the end of HP6 with those bodies in the water. there was lots of slimy looking things in this tiny pond.



and an opening in the trees reminded me that we were still on a hill!




then there was this grave set back in the woods a bit, and it had a wind chime and a crystal hanging above it. i really like this idea. i think i want those things hanging above my grave.




now this, i think, is the pizza place on the water that i have been to once with my parents. this would be the back of it. and the river runs right behind it.



yep, i was really there. i wore a flower in my hair today.



heading back.






roundabout with the pond.



looking up from the center of the roundabout.



i really loved this grave.




and now i'm leaving through the cemetery entrance.



that's how you are supposed to enter.



walking back home. so, i started the adventure here. walked up up up. saw the deer. walked down down. to the left left left. so, walking through the cemetery i was walking further away from my house. to kind of give you an idea of the layout.

and then! there's this street called Water Street that's a couple streets down from my street. and i said to myself, "you must be able to see the water from that street. i'll go find out."



yep! i found it!!



so, the tall smoke-stack like object was the same smoke-stack like object from a few pictures back. the picture taken where i thought i was seeing the pizza place. there's a tall smoke stack in that picture too. and it's that one way in the back. it looks kind of far away, but it's not really, if you're walking on a hill in the trees.



this is a different one. the name "Lebanon" probably means something like, "two smoke stacks."



and then i had to walk up yet another hill to get home. this was taken from the end of my street. those trees at the end are where i was. for serious. i was up in those trees. the cemetery is behind them.



and this is my house. my bedroom window is that one on the top floor. the staff office is the first floor, curved window.



side of my house. that triangle window is in my tiny room. the tiny room is literally that top triangle. above those two windows. it's a tiny, tiny room.

and then since i was not outside stargazing tonight, i instead took pictures of my twinkle lights. they look like stars, i think..





i love all the twinkle light reflection in this one. it makes it look like they are everywhere!!!! so beautiful!!!! and that's my air conditioner.

but, the best stargazing today was to finally be able to see my star on the mountain. oh, i was so excited. and although now everytime i think about the star, i will also think about those deer, it was worth it. totes worth it.

WOW! i hope you enjoyed taking my adventure with me. i was really proud of myself. i was pretty nervous to have an adventure by myself. but, once i started, it was great. i wasn't really alone on the mountain because the star was with me. and you're never really alone in a cemetery.

it was a great day. Ruby Tuesday was very excited to have me back at home. and she definitely smelled some outdoors on my jeans because she would not stop licking them. i think she was just hungry, actually.

alright! it's 3:26am. i'm probably going to head to bed. i'm tired. that hill was steep. i don't know if it looked it in the pictures, but it was. i compared it to trekking up to the top of the Aran Islands. but, that turned out to be way easier. this was HARD. next time i will think to bring water. i had no idea the hill was really that steep. i keep calling it a hill. but it's a mountain. it's like a ski mountain! and i didn't even make it to the star. BUT I WILL. i will go back up there and see the star up close. probably not tomorrow, because those deer are still fresh in my mind. but, before the summer is over, i will make it my goal.

REACH FOR THE STAR!!!!!

that's what i will call it. so perf! haha.

alright, have a great weekend. now it's your turn to photodocument an adventure and tell me about it. your mission!!! GO!!!!


tall grass
the longest shadows ever cast
the water's warm and children swim
and we frolicked about in our summer skin
i don't recall a single care
just greenery and humid air


<3