Nights here are awesome

As a long time city boy the cycles of the moon really amaze me. When you are out deep, way away from any sort of ambient light you can actually see how bright the moon gets. And how dark it is with out it. On a full moon night the moon is so bright it blots out some of the stars. It's bright enough to read by. Like some one left a light on for you in case you came home late. Shadows are deep and you can see for miles. When it's a new moon it's the darkness that is amazing. You can't see your hand in front of you face. You could hide from a person not five feet from you if you could be quiet enough. That same nice person who left the light on for you is now an asshole who turned off all the lights, changed the position of the switches, and re-arranged the furniture just to fuck with you. Until you walk in complete darkness you have no idea how much you rely on things like peripheral vision. Regular steps over slightly uneven dirt become a perilous walk through a mine scarred battlefield. The sweet spot exists on the nights in the middle. Some nights there is just enough light to walk but all the stars are still there. More clear than you ever knew and some how closer. Finally things like the Milky Way are actually visible and not just something you have to take the planetarium's word for. The constellations are even the same mostly but someone went and turned the Big Dipper upside down. If you get especially lucky it's a bit windy and there are some scattered clouds. You look up through the black outline of a palm tree rustling in the wind and the clouds move quickly so you get an ever changing view into the universe. As they pass over the moon the little bit of light dims and fades as your window to the ether shifts. It's beautiful.