We went to the King Gillette Ranch yesterday for a night hike and some stories about the stars. It's so beautiful there, 588 acres of oak woodlands, all open to the public.

We saw a great blue heron's nest, saw the heron nearby, fishing in a pond. Saw hawks and owls in flight, saw the footprints left by a herd of dear, heard a coyote pack's bloody feast.

And we saw stars, lots and lots of stars, though which stars is hard to say as the very sweet and very enthusiastic park service worker who knew the terrain so well, knew so much about the landscape and the mammals (she pointed out the remains of a tiny jaw in some coyote poop) couldn't quite find the Milky Way.