On a clear moonless summer night, high over head, if your skies are dark, you may see a faint band of clouds and stars. You have just seen the milky way! A photographic view, however looks a lot like this:
http://home.comcast.net/~slitherjef/...to/cygpost.jpg
I hope the image is not too big
Wish I had this view stepping out side my back door, but we had to drive 60 miles out of Denver after I worked 8 hours and had to be back in to work the next day. But after I reprocessed the image about 3 weeks later, I guess the view was worth it :D