A Cold Shower

No despite having had problems with the water heater staying lit at the house, this has nothing to do with water, but more to do with the Quantrid Meteor Showers (an approximated view of something similar is pictured, left). And it just happens that, it was Father Universe (in contrast to Mother Nature I guess) gave us New Years Eve Fireworks, even if on his/her own time schedule. So that left no choice but an INSTANT Mini- Road Trip !

Usually I am used to the Perseid Meteor Shower having seen them once or twice while living in Miami. Its a great place for stargazing, because you can always go deep enough into the Everglades, away from the light pollution, as long as you dont mind fighting off the Mi-go sized mosquitoes.

Either way Jon, Mary, Dave, Reagan (the star of almost every picture) & Me piled into the car at the incredulous hour of 11:30 to see this shower that I had never seen (you need to be in the northern lattitudes). Our first bit of bad-luck was missing our Sheetz stop over (to get hot chocolate/coffee) heading out to Bluemont, VA near the Ravens Rock hike area we did. Our second was not finding the spot that we were told was perfect for the shower viewing.

But as intrepid as we were, we managed to find a spot by a field and set up our bundles of attempted warmth. Now mind you, it was approximately 17 DEGREES OUT! We could have used that liquidy warmth like the Miami Dolphins need a new Coach & Quaterback! Still we persevered we spotted lots of Shooting Stars (met my goal of at least 11 personally) plus tons of constellations, The star Polaris, Orion, some Sattelites, a few Planes, and Mighty Mars bright as ever in the sky.

Sure I almost froze my toes off huddled on a un-inflated airmattress with the others, but it was well worth it, especially since I didnt have to fight off those Mi-Go's.......