One of the things I MUST do each summer is look at the stars. Since we live in Tacoma with lots of light pollution, this also means finding a dark and hopefully picturesque location.

Fortunately, we don’t have to travel too far to find good spots. There are a few national parks and wildernesses nearby with little to no light pollution and provide great options. I also like to have a location that offers a good experience along with great shots of the stars.

One year Scott and I went up to the Sunrise Visitor Center at Mount Rainier National Park to see the stars. I came back with some of my favorite star pics. The mountain is so close and the stars at the right time come right out of the mountain.

I love watching the full moon. I have many photographs of the full moon rising in picturesque locations. A couple of times I’ve made myself get out of bed to watch the full moon setting. This involves setting my alarm clock so it’s less appealing. Probably why I only have a couple of these shots compared to the many I have of the moon rising.

Scott and I were watching the moon rise a few years ago and there were these wispy clouds on the western horizon creating wonderful pink streaks in the sky. I checked my weather ap and it looked like the clouds would still be there in the morning.

I was already planning to photograph the moon setting, but decided to arrive a little earlier just in case the sunrise was also something worthy of photographing. So being the end of June I set my alarm for….3:50 AM. Yes 3:50.

Where are we going to watch the moonrise this year?

Every year as summer approaches, I get excited about watching the moonrise. It probably sounds silly to people who have more sunshine than we do in western Washington, but since we have clouds 9-10 months out of the year, summer is the only time we can really plan on seeing the full moon rise.

I start by checking the dates and marking them on my calendar. There are 3 opportunities in each cycle to see the full moon. One night where it is officially a full moon, along with the night before and the night after when it is so close it may as well be a full moon. Summer is busy, but usually I can at least catch one of the three.

Sunrise season is upon us! Well at least the season when I like to watch the sunrise.

There’s this stellar view in Gig Harbor that somehow, I always forget about until I’m looking at it again. Each time I wonder to myself ‘why is it I don’t come here more often?’.

Have you ever been out in the middle of nowhere on a clear moonless night and looked up at the sky? It’s pretty amazing! We are very fortunate to have lots of dark places to choose from if we want to view the night sky. It’s something we try to do at least once every summer.

We wanted to get some photographs of the full moon rise happening in a few days, and wanted to make an adventure out of it, but needed to stay in the area since we had to work the next day. So what did we do?

We decided to hop on a ferry boat and head for Vashon Island and Point Robinson.

Where are we going to watch the moonrise this year?

Every spring and summer when we can expect better weather, I begin to look for great places to view the full moon rise. We’ve found a few great places but this one we keep coming back to.

Where are we going to watch the moonrise this year?

Every spring and summer when we can expect better weather, I begin to look for great places to view the full moon rise. We’ve found a few great places but this one we keep coming back to.

So where are we going to go? It was 4:15PM, and time was running out. We needed to make a decision.