31 Awesome Things in 31 Days: Thing #17—Go "Stargazing"

David looking slightly maniacal in front of a sunset that was much more beautiful in person. Taking pictures of sunsets is so futile, at least with my camera lens.

Today was quite awesome. Dave had his weekly Sunday morning meeting at church from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m., then he came home and picked up Hollie and me for church from 10:00 to 1:00, after which we rushed home, heated up a frozen pizza, and David left for his summer seminar class from 1:30 to 5:30. He came home just as Hollie and I were getting bored of each other, and we headed to the kitchen as a family to make delicious Sunday evening Spam breakfast sandwiches (it was a Gilliland tradition for my dad to make Spam sandwiches every Sunday afternoon, so the dish was in honor of him, slightly improved with English muffins and scrambled eggs).

Next, we bathed Hollie, watched an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba with her, sent her off to bed, and watched an episode of the new season of Arrested Development on Netflix. Our friend Jo came to babysit a sleeping Hollie as the credits rolled, and that's when our actual official awesome Thing #17 began—stargazing at the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Standing in front of the mastodon statue. This is how I posed after David told me, "Try not to look so pregnant."

Lubbock Lake isn't so much a lake anymore as it is a big empty dirt hole filled with cactus and jackrabbits. The Graduate Student Council had put together a night of stargazing with all-you-can-eat free popcorn, organic suckers, and watery pink lemonade.

We were promised the chance to see "Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury performing an intricate dance," but the sky was nearly completely overcast, so we ended up standing around, chatting, running into old friends, and looking at helicopters through our binoculars.

Can you see the two rabbits?

Anyone know what these squash are that look like baseballs or giant eggs? This plant was growing everywhere and was one of the only plants that didn't have a corresponding plaque to identify them. They have to be some kind of gourd, but what kind?

While walking around the dirt-pit-that-was-Lubbock-Lake, we ran into some good friends, Amelia and Kellyanne.

Then, even more randomly, we ran into more of our good friends, the Bludorns, who just happened to visit the Lubbock Lake Landmark on a whim (having never been there before), and who had no idea that anything special was happening there that night. These two are opening up a Pie Bar in Provo this summer, so my Utah friends should take note. We tried some of their wares—it's mighty good.

In spite of not seeing the planets dance, we did see the Gemini Twins peeking through a small opening in the clouds, and we also spotted one of those stars that flicker different colors. And it was great to serendipitously run into random friends.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have fifty more pages of a 900-page novel to finish up before going to sleep. We have a 5k in the morning that I plan to waddle through, so going to bed before midnight is in my best interest.

Thing #17—Gaze at stars and see a few of them = ACCOMPLISHED.