Maybe it’s us. Night time viewing of amazing things seems to elude us. As the title of John Greene’s book goes maybe it’s “The Fault in Our Stars.” At any rate, the train ride to a dark sky adventure was a bust. A couple of things: First, it was cloudy and there were rain showers all across the mountains in the distance. Turns out the clouds and mountains combined for a terrific sunset. I imagined (I have a very good imagination) that we were seeing (at last!) the elusive aurora borealis that we DIDN’T see on our very expensive Northern Lights Cruise in Norway. What do you think?
The train did have an astronomer on board. His name was Andy which was the only information he shared during the entire ride. Really. “Entire ride” might conjure up a train chugging along in the dark reaches of the Nevada desert. Banish that vision. I’m pretty sure the train never moved more than a mile or two and VERY slowly. Nearly was stopped as the champagne and other beverages were served. The champagne (which, to be fair, wasn’t bad) was served in etched stemless souvenir glasses. We also got a ticket for another glass of champagne….bring your glass for a refill.
In addition to creating a pretty nice sunset, the storm also gave us a nice lightening show illuminating the mountain’s shape as night arrived. We never were really in the dark (Dark Sky Spot…HAH!) but we did see Venus (not a word from the astronomer about that!) and a sprinkling of other stars between clouds.
If you get a chance to ride the Nevada Northern Railroad for a dark sky experience, skip it.
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