Item #9

“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.”

-Susan Sontag

I often boast about the impact traveling and exploration can have on a person’s life, however, one of the biggest impacts on my life, if not the biggest, was not traveling but art. From an early age, I knew art was going to be something I would love for the rest of my life. In preschool, one of my teachers was exceptionally good at drawing and every morning I would sit beside her and watch her draw. Although most of her pictures were nothing more than mere sketches, the way she drew the lines and curves with such ease fascinated me. With the flick of her pencil she could make a simple curve into a blooming flower and what once was an assortment of lines transformed into a building.

As the years continued on and my interest in art only grew, I realized that many of the fundamental principles I was using on my pieces, I was also using towards life. I no longer viewed things as they were, but rather as an art piece. I began to notice the colors, the lines, and motion in everything. My surroundings took on a new form and I found myself completely captivated by what I saw, especially by the sky. The sky is the quintessential art piece, due to its variation in color and texture from the weather. That is why, whenever I am outside, no matter where I am or what time of day, I am always focused on the natural beauty of the sky.

For this reason, item number nine on my bucket list is to go stargazing at Cherry Springs State Park. This park, which is fortunately located in Pennsylvania, is famous for its great stargazing views. Cherry Springs is classified as a number two on the Bortle Dark-Sky scale, a nine-level numeric scale that measures the night sky’s brightness. This essentially means that the night sky in Cherry Springs State Park has almost no light pollution, therefore you can see everything from stars to planets to even the Milky Way. It is described as being “the last best refuge of the natural night sky” in the eastern half of the United States. To be able to go here and stare into the sky and see a world beyond our own is unimaginable.

Thankfully, this particular bucket list item is completely manageable and doesn’t seem to require much financially. So much so, that it might be the most inexpensive item on this entire passion blog, possibly my entire bucket list. The easiest part of this process is entering Cherry Springs State Park, which will be no challenge since there are currently no entrance fees or day use fees for any state park in Pennsylvania. However, if I did want to camp out and spend a night or two in the park there are cottages available that range from $55.66 to $139.62 dollars a night. Much of this trip’s costs will come from the price of the bus ticket, which isn’t much considering how close Cherry Springs State Park is to Penn State. A typical bus ticket from State College, PA to Coudersport, PA is around $26 dollars, but it can go up to $40 dollars depending on the day of the week. Thus, making the total cost of the trip just $26 dollars!