In 1997 I upgraded the "Fly's Eye" photometer array that I had built the previous year to make high-speed optical observations of sprites and elves.
In July and August I watched storms from atop Mt Baldy (3200 m), near Socorro, New Mexico. Some of them were nearby...
When they were overhead, lightning was sometimes triggered by small rocket.
However, my work revolved around very distant night-time storms. Here is the Fly's Eye, dormant during the afternoon, with the VLA far in the background.
Very occasionally, I did descend from Mt Baldy, for instance to visit the VLA
or even stand in it,
or to climb on some outcrops amid varied cacti and flowers in the beautiful desert.
Mostly, though, I was active at night, and after spectacular displays of Mexican sprites, I and the Fly's Eye would go to bed at sunrise.