A spectacular sight!

Last friday I and Jolly sighted a shooting star in twilight. It was so bright and the trail was long that we had a doubt if it was indeed a shooting star or a crashing plane. Good heavens after checking the local news we were relieved that we sighted an astro rarity. This is the first time that I've sighted a shooting star after sunset/before dark. August is supposed to be a month for meteor showers. We were in Las Vegas on aug 11, 12 perfect days to watch Perseid meteor shower. The observatory in vegas closed around 8pm and the perfect time to the shower was midnight to early morning. I was concerned about the luminescence and wasn't sure if we could spot few or any shower at all. We even thought of driving down to a far of place or red rock canyon. Our enthusiasm died over midnight and we stayed back at the hotel. However we could spot at least four shooting stars in 20 mins of gazing from the lounge. Our weary eyes said enough and we went back to bed. Awaiting for the Orionids on Oct 21st. Hope I can spot more shower then.