Ice cream, Bat Caves and Planets, Oh My!

On August 27, we got to spend the whole day with dear Anna, had free ice cream in the bat cave, ate lunch in an abandoned zoo, saw Josh Groban's face (on his tour bus), slightly heard his voice from afar, and stared at tiny, sharp, Saturn.

You know the LORD loves to bless you when He gives you free ice cream... in the bat cave.

Entrance to the ice cream cave.

When we got to the Observatory, (after lots of traffic because Josh Groban was doing a concert!) we got in line to look through a small telescope that would stretch our vision to see Jupiter and Venus
- lined up with each other- which wouldn't happen again for 60 years.  (It looked like a little speck in front of a fiery ball.)

Another telescope was showing off Saturn.  I could not believe my eyes!  I couldn't believe it was the real Saturn!  It was so clear that I could see its rings and shadows.  To me, it seemed like I could've reached out to pick up the tiny model Saturn that was sitting on black fabric.  It almost looked computer animated, but it was real!

The sunset there was stunningly beautiful.

Later in the evening, we got in line to see the most looked through telescope in the world.  Griffith Griffith (who had donated the money to build the Observatory) wanted everyone to be able to see the stars.  Wouldn't he smile if he could see it now, the most looked through telescope in the world.

It was getting dark as we waited, but the view we had from up on the "roof" of the Observatory was beautiful.  All the city lights, like a thousand manufactured stars fallen on the ground.  :D

After quite a few quite awhiles, we reached the door to the huge telescope room.  As I watched people climb one by one up and down the stairs that brought them to the giant telescope, I wondered why they weren't gasping, or saying "Wow!"   We had recently heard someone say that the telescope was pointed at Saturn, and the planet didn't look any better than the view from the small telescopes.  We were a bit disheartened, but thought even if it was true, it would be amazing to look through the telescope that the most eyes had ever peered into the heavens through.
   

I loved this chart of Saturn.

Soon our waiting was over.  One by one we climbed to the telescope, peeked in, then walked back down.  When I looked in, I saw the same tiny Saturn I'd seen earlier.  But, as I stepped down, I thought, "That telescope was built in the 1930's."  I imagined men in big coats and derby hats looking through the telescope, little girls wearing feed sack dresses and bobbed hair cuts seeing a world they hadn't thought of before during the Great Depression.  It was built in Germany.  I pictured Hitler, looking through it.  And then I saw myself, tilting my face right where they had, right where they had helped to fulfill a bit of Griffith Griffith's dream of everyone seeing the stars.  As we left the telescope and headed down to the grounds, I got so excited, I couldn't stop talking about the history we'd just experienced.

When we see amazing historical places or things, I realize that learning history has helped me to see the people in that time as real people.  And they didn't live that long ago!  Learning history helps you to connect the dots and imagine what it was like back then, when you find yourself in a history rich place.  Or eating a jelly bean.  (Because you learned jelly bean history and now you can't eat one without thinking of it!)  :D

History is all around us, and we can really learn from it if we just take the time to look, think, and discover.

P.S.  Here is scientific proof of my cold hands:  (This is from a heat detector that was at the          
Observatory . . .  I was the only one with purple hands.)   ;)