It seems like a fine idea to go on a Thanksgiving week vacation with the grandchildren to San Diego. The average temperature is near 70 degrees and it only rains 10.4 inches in a year. On Thursday the high was 53 and Southern California is under a flash flood watch. We caught two normal days at the wonderful Legoland park in Carlsbad. The beach was a bit rainy, windy and cold. There is something to be said for wet sand as it comes home with you and keeps reminding you of the shore. Not to be deterred we headed to the Fleet Science Center. There are a lot of people living and visiting California over this holiday and many of them had the same idea. Indoors was a good plan and we had lots of company. Wow, are we spoiled in Boise. It is rapidly changing but the tempo of life in the Treasure Valley is something which should be on our thankful list. The science center was an excellent experience and we learned a bit of patience as the kids waited their turns in the lines. The ethnic diversity was unlike Boise and everyone we met were friendly and welcoming. Hank, Margie and I learned some new things at the center and will share a few memorable facts and quotes.
Although Dirty Harry spoke one of the top 100 catch phrases in American movies in the 1983 film SuddenImpact, “make my day was our favorite punchline of the shirts on sale. “The rotation of the earth -really makes my day.” Waterless no flush urinals look a bit odd but save 45,000 gallons of water per year. That is enough water to fill two standard sized swimming pools, run 820 loads of wash, 1216 baths, or fill 360,000 water bottles. Valles Marineris is a vast canyon system that runs along the Martian equator. It looks like our Grand Canyon except it is 4 miles deep not 1 and stretches 2500 miles not 500. You may already know the daytime temperature on Mars reaches -7 F while it cools at night to -149 F. And finally, Olympus Mons is the largest volcano found so far in our solar system, happens to be on Mars and at 16 miles high is three times as tall as Mt Everest. As great a tourist venue as Mars might become, appears we should take better care of our own planet and people.
The final t shirt motto we recall puts each of us in perspective, “you occupy space—you have mass—you Matter.” A classic science definition it does have deeper meaning, as we celebrate what really matters in our lives.
Enjoy the weather and the week end. Mike