This was my very first trip to a true dark site. Ranked Bortel 2 on the Bortle Scale, the site had exceptional night skies aided in part due to the dry conditions of the Chihuahuan desert region and an elevation of ~5200ft. The campground we stayed within the park had the nice touch of campsites named after celestial bodies, and the best part was, one had to just step out of the tent to get a horizon-to-horizon view of the sky. A special experience planned by Rush Dudley, Stan Honda and one of my favourite locations where you can shoot a great night sky just stepping out of your tent with the looming volcanic rock formations. During a part of this trip we also covered the Very Large Array, located in central New Mexico on the Plains of San Agustin. This is such an incredible location, and standing next to these giant antennas one gets a true feeling of ‘Contact’.