Dark Skies and Giant Serpents

Three-and-a-half hours from Los Angeles, there's a town completely surrounded by a California state park.

Borrego Springs is a Dark Sky Community, which means it's a good place to look at the night sky. I dunno...I don't mean to be a skeptic, but I'm pretty sure I've spent nights out in national parks in Uganda and Zimbabwe where I could see a lot less light. Or in Turbo's yard out in the middle of nowhere, Australia. But I applaud the effort, and I didn't happen to carry a giant telescope with me out into any of those places without cities nearby, but there are telescope options in Borrego Springs, so off I went in a rental car from Burbank Airport.

I have zero decent photos from the astronomy tour last night, but it was still cool. I think I just didn't know how to run my point-and-shoot. I've gotten night photos before, but I've never tried shooting the sky, and I completely failed. So you'll need to take my word for it that I looked through a bit telescope at Jupiter, Saturn, stars in other galaxies, and whatnot.

I also sat on my rental car key, and turned the lights on in my car by accident. Slick. 

But before heading out at night, I took a tour of the Galleta Meadows sculptures. They alone are worth the trip into the desert!