[pythonistic]

You don't have to go too far to find dark skies.

My wife and I rented a cottage at Sheep Dung just outside Boonville, CA, a few years ago. Ukiah was on the far side of the hills to the east, another range blocked the coast to the west, and the next closest big city was Santa Rosa -- far enough away not to cause light pollution. I got lucky because the Labor Day wildfires were east of Clear Lake and blowing smoke east toward I-5. It was the first time in my life I got to actually see the Milky Way with my own eyes.

[simonebrunozzi]

I am in Bolinas right now, it's close to midnight, and I am going to close my laptop in a few seconds, and go out to look at the night Sky - which I did yesterday, and it was quite magnificent.

[ars]

Since you posted that 20 hours ago, I'm sure you're done by now. But don't forget it can take 20 minutes to an hour to get your eyes fully adapted to the dark.

So don't go out for just a short time, plan to spend a while in the dark before fully enjoying the stars.

[danek]

Yeah lots of rural areas in the US have very dark skies. I saw lots of shooting stars one night driving acros Utah, it was pretty incredible.

[dotancohen]

Seeing one an hour is average, seeing many _while driving_ sounds like it was a meteor shower. Did that happen to be around August 12, which is when the strongest shower of the year peaks?

[danek]

Pretty close. End of July, 8 years ago. It was definitely more than one an hour, but not like what Is imagine a shower to be like. Maybe more like one every 15 minutes

[taejo]

The Perseids peak at around 60/hour, but I guess it's a lot less a couple weeks before.

[DrScump]

The night sky from the Sierra Nevada (at altitude) -- even a "crowded" place like Tuolumne Meadows -- offers amazing night skies.

[Taniwha]

The Blackrock Desert in Northern Nevada is a wonderful place to see the night sky (except maybe this week)