Counting Shooting Stars

Tonight, we drove to the top of Mount Eldon. It was the first time I had ever experienced something like this, and I won’t soon forget it…

Isabella, Andrew, Dante, and I piled in the car with warm jackets and plenty of blankets. We turned up the radio and drove out of town, further and further into the woods until we reached the gravel road that curved towards the towering land mass before us. It was about 11:30pm but the light from the moon shone on a dark silhouette of the huge mountain against a brilliant starry sky. I took a deep breath as I leaned back in the seat and realized where we were really going.

To the top.

Up, up, up, we drove… curving, with darkened cliffs and treetops on one side, and jutting rocks on the other. The headlights swooped across thick pines and showed the bumpy gravel road that was steep and unsteady. We kept busy by talking, and Andrew explained to us how he had biked this trail many times before.

“You guys are gonna love it up here, it’s absolutely amazing. There are so many other great places to go, too…” he said. I loved when Andrew came to visit. He actually lived in Phoenix, but he was up for a few days and the four of us had decided it would be great to drive up to Mount Eldon and just hang out his last night in town. (Andrew F. is the top Andrew on the picture on my front page… the other Andrew M. is roommates with the guys…)

“I can’t wait to see this!” I exclaimed in anticipation. We had been driving for a good 20 minutes up the steep dark road, but I could tell how high we were getting. Andrew smiled and patted my shoulder. He was such a sweetheart. He knew how much we would enjoy this trip, and it was great that he was showing it to us for the first time.

“Okay, you can pull over here,” he instructed. We were finally near the top, as far as cars could go, but we would have to walk the rest of the way. Maybe 3/4 of a mile further. So we parked and I hopped out of the car and took another deep breath. It was so amazing…

All around were skeletons of ancient pine trees, left over from a fire years ago. It was so cool the way their spidery branches reached towards the endless velvet sky above us. It was so clear up there, and open, with rolling levels of land. It was beautiful and scary at the same time. It was an eerie sense with only the moonlight to show us the way. We grabbed some blankets and Andrew led us to the first big hill in front of us. We walked a bit further down the road, closer and closer to the edge. Then… we saw it… slowly peeking beyond the edge of the mountain… was everything below.

Down, down, below… miles and miles of sparkling city lights, off in the distance… Absolutely beautiful city lights that seemed thousands of feet below us. Straight down, beyond the edge of the mountainside and the shells of trees, below the thick pines that grew out of rocks… was the city. I was absolutely speechless for a moment. And only a moment.

“Oh my gosh… this is beautiful,” I whispered. Isabella walked up next to me, and for another moment, the four of us stood there, amazed by the power of this beauty. This view. It was almost unreal. I still couldn’t believe I was actually here. On top of a mountain.

“Let’s set up the blanket further up the hill, then we can have a better view,” Andrew instructed, and we followed him. We found a clearing amongst the grass and rocks, in a little hollow with a couple trees nearby. We set down the blankets and all sat down together. Looking. Everywhere. Up above, there were millions of stars in a perfectly sharp and clear night sky. Down below, the twinkling city lights. In the distance, a faraway storm cloud that let off a brilliant streak of lightning.

I don’t know how long we sat there. After awhile, we all leaned back on the rocks and pulled the blankets around us and just stared at the sky. From my view, I could see everything. The cool night breeze picked up, and we all huddled together. We laughed as we talked about “spooning” and moments later, we totally cuddled together. Dante and Andrew were on the outside, and Isabella and I were on the inside. The guys kept us warm as we lay there, talking and laughing. It was so great to have someone’s arms around me again, even if it was just a good friend. We all hugged to keep warm, and I pulled my hood up over my head. I stuck my hands deep under the blankets and grabbed Andrew’s hands. He hugged me closer and I smiled back at him. On the other side, Dante was hugging Isabella. We were so cozy there on that hillside, and it was so much fun.

“Oh my gosh!” Dante suddenly exclaimed, pointing at something. I absolutely FREAKED out at this point, because I thought there was some scary wild animal barring it’s teeth at the group of huddling college kids on the top of the mountain. Isabella almost cried, and my heart didn’t stop pounding for nearly five minutes! Dante assured us it wasn’t a wild animal. “No, you guys! It was a shooting star!” Isabella slugged Dante, and we all laughed.

“Sheesh, I almost had a heart attack!”

“Don’t worry, guys… I wouldn’t let anything hurt you!” Andrew cut in, as we all tried to catch our breath. I leaned my head back and looked at the sky again. I wanted to remember this moment always. These great people, this great place… at the top of a mountain. I never thought I would end up here. Moments later, I saw another shooting star, and I wished that my life would always be this wonderful and exciting.

We all snuggled for quite a bit longer, just talking and watching the clear sky turn into puffy night clouds that drifted by the bright moon, shadowing our area for a few moments. The winds picked up again, and we finally decided it was time to head back down. We all got up, grabbed the blankets, and hiked down the rocky hillside to where the car was parked.

“Thank you so much for bringing us here, Andrew!” I said, holding onto his arm as we stumbled a bit in the darkness of the shadowed trail. He smiled back at me.

“Hey, no problem… I love coming out here. We will definitely do it again, I have some other great places we can go too!”

And so, we drove back down to the bottom of the mountain, back to our apartments. We hugged our guys goodbye at the door, and once again thanked them for taking us to the top of the mountains.