Star light, star bright...

So I just spent the last couple days up in northern New Hampshire at Living Water Campground. Staying there definitely brought back memories - it had been a favorite Nagel family vacation spot for years, with the five of us heading up there pretty much every year while we were still kids.

My family hadn't been there in a while, but not much had changed. The camp store had gotten bigger (even added a pizza place and a Quiznos!) and the family that owns the area had built a few log cabins (very cute). But, other than that, it was all the same.

The campground is a peaceful slice of the White Mountains. The babbling Ammonoosuc River runs along the back edge of the campground provide a delightful, melodic background to nightly campfires and sunrise (okay, a bit later than that) walks through the woods.

But the thing that got to me the most about this latest trip was the sheer beauty of the night sky. I was lucky enough to make it up there on two consecutive clear nights in the midst of a meteor shower. Well, the show Mother Nature put on was Grade-A, top-quality.

Each night, the Milky Way stretch directly overhead, touching each horizon. Millions of stars, far more than I can see from my apartment balcony in Boston (where I can see the moon, Venus and landing lights headed to Logan) twinkled everywhere. The constellations not only stood out, they seemed like they were closer to me than ever before.

Looking up at the night sky, surrounded by perfect darkness and 100 miles from the nearest city, it was so easy to lose myself in the beauty of nature.

And that's one of the often overlooked aspects of travel, I think. We go around with our cameras and our checklists and visit the great monuments of the world. We see everything that man has built - huge skyscrapers, breathtaking cathedrals, beautiful works of art. But I think we sometimes don't take the same time to appreciate the natural beauty in the world around us.

So the next time you go somewhere, or even if you're at home, make sure to pause, take a moment and look up. You might be surprised at what you see.