There's a lot of reasons to love August in our family. After all, who can't love 120 degree weather in the desert (although that doesn't hold true this year--we've been rather cool for most of the summer in the low 100s!) We have Madi's and Josh's birthdays to celebrate, we have back to school shopping (thanks Kristen for taking Reagan!), we always have new releases of books (can't wait for Mockingjay!), and we have the Perseid meteor showers.
Last year, we didn't get to enjoy these because DJ was still on his way back from Alaska, and I was lazy and slept. This year, however, we wanted the best seat in the house. That seat is found up at the back entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. We headed up there with our beach chairs, drinks, and snacks--of course. Actually, before we headed out, our little black Pomeranian decided to bolt--and YOU try finding a little black pom in the dark WHEN THERE ARE NO STREET LIGHTS!!!!!!!! We eventually got on the road.
Once we hit Joshua Tree, there's a pull off we go to every year, with a nice wide concrete area, with plenty of space to set up the chairs. The stars were amazing--it's scary how much gets filtered out around civilization. The Milky Way stretched from horizon to horizon. We made plans that when we saw a shooting star, we'd say "12 o'clock", "3 o'clock", "6 o'clock" or "9 o'clock." I don't think we did that once--it was just "OOOHH look at that" or "THERE." Lots of laughs, giggles, and kids sneaking up behind mommy to put there fingers on her and say, "Is that a tarantula?" We also told the story of DJ's first Christmas gift to me--he did that "Name a Star" radio thing. We found where it was on the star charts, went out to look for it--and then (dramatic pause here)--it fell. Right then, right there. Who would have thought it?
We stayed for about 1 1/2 hours, and saw 100 falling stars (more or less--I think Josh may have been counting by twos--or maybe it was me towards the end). There were a couple of brilliant ones that lit up the sky, but most were fleeting. I'm glad we took the moment to enjoy--and continue the tradition. Star watching next fall anyone?
3 comments:
We really wanted to do this, but the kids had school the next day... so, I guess there are some down sides to starting school early... :)
Super. Cool. The picture is amaaaazing. Thanks for sharing. What a great tradition!
I have to see this next year. I have never even heard about it. Please remind me :).
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