My family, and especially my gorgeous wife, have been supportive of this decision, as they're generally fond of hiking and backpacking, as well as being understanding of a person's need to just escape and unplug for a night.
Recently events, however, have started to turn what should be a relaxing adventure into a mass of stressful organization.
First and foremost, my maternal grandmother is in town from Florida for ten days; in fact, she's arriving about an hour from the time of this writing. I think it's wonderful, and I can't wait to see her. It's been a couple years, and I'm looking forward to getting to spend some time with her. Unfortunately, the first "family group night" is scheduled to happen when I'm scheduled to be somewhere in the middle of nowhere between Duluth and Grand Marais.
This raises the issue of transportation. Since we're a single-car family, it means Kris will be without a mode of transport for approximately 36 hours. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue since she rides the bus to and from work, and a night at home alone would be good for her as well. With the family group night, however, this adds in someone having to pick her up to bring her to my brother and sister-in-law's house, as well as home after the party.
Tack on the fact that Dante should be in attendance, and that means someone other than myself and Kris (who normally pick him up) will need to retrieve him from his mom's house. Normally not a big deal as my parents have always been extraordinarily helpful in this regard. I mean, like, super helpful. Of course, that leaves their car with quite a few occupants, as well as having them go pretty far out of their way to return Kris and Dante to our house after the party.
After the party on Thursday night, there is Friday night to take into consideration. My mom has finished Chapter Four of her dissertation, which is apparently enough to be considered eligible to "walk" at commencement, and participate in the Ph.D. hooding ceremony. Yay Mom! What that means for me is that on Friday morning, I'm going to hike off the trail and back to the car, then drive nearly five hours to get home. As soon as I get home, I'll hop in the shower, put on some fresh clothing, and immediately leave to attend the hooding. From what I can tell of the schedule, it's going to keep me busy until around 10pm.
First thing Saturday morning, around 9am or so, Dante and I are going to need to get up, get dressed and head back downtown for a second time to watch the commencement ceremony. Luckily, that should only keep us busy until 4pm, but then we get to come home to clean, because we're having "family group night, take two" at our house on Saturday night.
It's at this point in the planning where I sit down to ask myself, "Is it really worth going hiking for a night, if you're not going to be able to have a moment to breathe until sometime on Sunday? Can't you go some other night?"
And as soon as I ask myself the question, I respond with a resounding, "Yes, yes it is. And no, no I can't."
You see, Thursday night, the night I'm planning to be miles and miles and miles away from civilization, is the night of the Perseid Meteor Showers.
I've been trying to see this meteor shower every August for the last ten years, and have never been able to. This year, they're supposed to start about 45 minutes after sundown, so the sky will be perfectly dark. The moon is supposed to set only 20 minutes after the sun (and it's currently just a thin crescent wedge), so there won't even be moonlight to interfere. In addition to the perfection of the darkness, this year's shower is supposed to contain 60-100 meteors per hour, as opposed to the normal 40-75, so there will be an abundance of meteors to watch sizzle through the black night sky. Add to that the fact that I'll be 70 miles from any major city that might throw up some light pollution, and I'm in for one hell of a show!
I know that this mini-vacation of mine is throwing a monkey wrench into a night of family fun time, and I know that it's selfish of me to force other people to drive around town picking up and dropping off my family, but after a decade of attempts, this is the best opportunity for me... quite possibly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a full-bore meteor shower in all of it's dazzling glory.
I can't wait!
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