My Planetarium Experience

There's nothing like seeing a planetarium show to really make a person feel humble about their place in the universe.

Yesterday, my family went to the Griffith Park Observatory in Los Angeles. This has been something we've been eagerly anticipating for a very long time. The observatory underwent a massive renovation and was closed for many years. It reopened last year and we've waited a while to go for the crowds to die down.

It's a truly spectacular place, one of the coolest in L.A. The views of the city are breathtaking from the top, and on a clear day, you can see all the way to the ocean.

We got the last three tickets to the show "Centered in the Universe." We sat back on comfortable recliner chairs (so much different than the wooden ones of my youth). So comfortable, in fact, that a guy in front of us was snoring.  

When the lights went down and the planetarium dome turned black, filled with stars, I felt like a kid again. The show was hosted live by a woman with a great voice.  I wondered if she does voiceovers for T.V. and commercials.  (After all, this is L.A.)  It was great.

We are but one planet, part of the Milky Way Galaxy. There are billions of other galaxies out there. It's mindblowing.  The show took us on a brief history of time and some of the great scientists who formulated our views of the universe and our place in it (like Ptolemy, Galileo and Newton).
 
This experience gave me the inspiration to write a new story, so I'm pretty excited about that.  

All in all, a great day.