Dark Matters (or One Last Night with The Boys)

Last night, I met up with Niko and company, and Aunt Louise, at the Griffith Observatory. Earlier in the day, the guys had scaled the canyons and got thisclose to the Hollywood sign, despite being warned several times about the danger of being tossed in the pokey. But really, what's the point of being 20 years old if not to ignore "No Trespassing" signs?
It was nippy last night as we sat on the observation deck eating overpriced cafeteria food (Thanks, Wolfgang), and the boys were wearing flip flops. How cute and Californian of them. We heard the coyotes yipping and yapping, which was kind of cool, except that I know it means the end of the road for some unsuspecting creature. We talked about the scene in "Collateral" with the coyote and I told them about the time Randy and I were leaving poker night and a coyote sauntered past us down Spaulding Avenue, far from the hills. It was also pretty clear last night, and dang if LA doesn't look pretty from way up there.

Dorks that we are, we stood for what felt like forever (but was only about five or ten minutes) watching the Foucault pendulum swing and waiting for it to hit a magnet, proving that indeed, the earth is rotating. Hooray! A very nice young docent named Jarod took a lot of time explaining the whole pendulum thing and even calculating the longitude and latitude for Chicago for the boys. When the needle finally knocked over a magnet, Joe, Pat and I clapped. The other observers were not nearly as excited.

The Planetarium show was pretty awesome, even if the narrator had cheesy radio announcer voice. I love me some astronomy. It reminded me of the night Dean Haag and I lay in the middle of the road leading up to Notre Dame High School (those of you from East Bumbleburg, Pennsyltucky know where I mean) and found most of the zodiac constellations. That Dean was pretty smart, all things considered. I got a little woozy during the show, but in a good way. Some lady in the row behind us was snoring, which was also entertaining.

Then, sadly, I hugged my not-so-little-anymore nephew goodbye. Someday, he'll have to come for a solo visit and I'll show him the real sites. Sorry, no pictures from last night. I forgot my camera, but trust me, the boys were still handsome and I, naturally, was breathtaking.