I grew up in a very remote part of Canada, more than 20 km from the nearest town. It had to be overcast to see any glow from the town lights, and it was faint at that. In the winter the temperature dropped to -25 deg.C on a regular basis, and when I went out to the shed to get firewood the sky was usually devoid of all clouds. A halo of ice crystals hung around the moon, which combined with heavy snow on the ground and on the trees made the surroundings visible enough to see without a flashlight. You could see where you were going if you didn't go into the bush, where trees blocked the moonlight and it was pitch black. It was totally silent, and occasionally you could hear frozen tree branches snapping under the weight of the snow.

The stars were always bright highly defined points of light. And you could see a vague aurora - just a black ghost on a black background that moved slowly. Aurora borealis was never as bright or colorful as photos I've seen of it elsewhere. Interesting actually that I lived up north for years and never saw any of those bright firey auroras that other people have seen. But that is beside the point....

Someday I'm going to buy some property outside of the city, maybe very far from the city. I don't like the city anyways. And maybe I'll get that 11-inch telescope too and take up the hobby full-time.