Super Moon in Yorktwon (8/10/2014)

Well, it was “super moon” night last night, and what better way is there to watch it come up over the Chesapeake Bay/York River?  It seemed that a lot of people had that idea and there were literally hundreds of people at the Yorktown Beach.  It was the place to be, that’s for sure.  Yorktown is slowly becoming the attraction our county administrators always wanted it to be.  I just wish that there were a few more places to eat and drink, or should I say, more diversity.  The few places that are there have American fair, and I’m not sure if the sushi place ever opened.  No I don’t want another Mexican chain, or any other chain as such, but a few more terraces where you can sit, relax and drink something would be great; maybe a bit more European flair.  However, last night finding parking was even at a premium.  But for sure Yorktown was the place to be last night. 

Everybody was out there, taking photographs.  It was amazing seeing all the flashes from cameras when we were standing on the fishing pier and looking back into town.  It is actually insane, people taking flash pictures of the moon.  I guess most do not know that it is probably better to turn off the flash when taking moon pictures; our flashes in Yorktown are not going to make the moon extra bright.  It reminds me of what we experienced when I worked in Nepal in the early 1980s.  We were in a hotel in Pokhara looking at the full moon reflecting on the snow of the Annapurna Mountains.  All the sudden a tour group of Japanese tourist came out and the photo flashes started going off like crazy.  They were trying to catch a photo of mountains at night that were at least 40 some miles away.  Pity this was the time before digital cameras, so I bet there were a lot of disappointing faces when they came back home and had their films developed.  But then you still see it in stadiums during sporting events.  People would make such better pictures when they take one or two photography lessons instead of opening the box and start shooting.

Waiting for the moon was probably the most interesting.  It was approximately two fingers thick held at arm’s length above the horizon before you could actually see it.  I guess the humidity (light fog) or pollution over the water obscured the moon for a bit, before we could actually see it.  I am posting two pictures I took last night that I particularly like:  the one with the grasses and the one with the reflection of vehicle headlights in the sand (timing is perfect).  It was a nice evening; I still can’t believe what a great summer we’ve had.