This past weekend I went to the desert with some friends to see the Perseid Meteor Shower.
We picked out a campsite in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, which is about an hour and a half from San Diego. We decided to stay at a primitive campsite, so the only thing there was an outhouse basically. We only planned to stay for about 12 hours, so it was perfect.
We arrived at golden hour, about an hour before sunset. It had already cooled off a lot, which was exactly what we were hoping for. There were fewer than 10 campsites that I could see, and by the time we set up our tents, there weren’t many spots left.
We spoke to an older man while we were walking around scoping out where we could fit three tents. He had a big telescope and was also planning to stay up late and stargaze. It seemed like most people were there to stay up and watch the meteor shower, because we weren’t the only ones awake at 2am.
As we finishing setting up our tents, the sun was setting and it was so pretty!
We also found a friend when we were setting up.
We had a fire pit and some firewood, so we got a fire started. We had lots of snacks, so we were eating and hanging out for a while. By about 10pm, we had settled. That’s when everyone realized how long we had to stay up with only the fire to entertain up. We were all pretty tired, but I stayed awake messing with the settings on my camera and seeing how I could make sure to capture the amount of stars there were once the moon set.
Because the moon was more than half full, we got to see some stars and some meteors while the moon was up, but it got so much better when the moon set at about 2:30am. Until then, we hung out around the fire, dozing off here and there, watching the stars.
We didn’t end up seeing that many shooting stars, but we did see the milky way and so, so many stars! We had a really good time.
As soon as the moon set and I took in how many more stars there were, I passed out because it was nearly 3am.
The next morning, we woke up at around 7am. That was when the heat of the desert made it unbearable to be in the tent any longer, which naturally woke us all up. We immediately packed up our stuff and took a scenic drive through the state park on our way to a nearby town called Julian.
We then went to the Julian Cafe, which is a western-themed diner. We sat and all had about 4 cups of coffee and really big breakfasts. I got french toast! It felt so good after getting so little sleep to eat something hearty and drink bottomless coffee.
We then went to Ramona, which is a small town on the way back to San Diego. We ended up going to a few antique stores, which was cool. I found a table full of vintage perfume bottles, which were decently priced, so I got one!
After that, we finally headed home. When we got back, I took a shower and then took a 3 hour nap! Much needed after little sleep the night before.
The whole trip was really fun! I’m so glad we went. It was also a really good trial run for our month-long road trip we’re leaving for this Saturday. James and I are going all through Utah up to Grand Teton/Yellowstone and then meeting friends in Seattle and driving back down. We’re camping except for in a handfull of places. Pretty much everything we do will be completely new for me. I think the only place I will have been before is Joshua Tree. I can’t wait to share more about that when we get back!
