Not Your Average Planetarium

Do you remember taking field trips to the planetarium when you were a child? I remember going on school field trips on several occasions and maybe it was because I loved science or maybe it was just because it was dark and a pleasant distraction from schoolwork, but I always loved the experience. The Griffith Observatory is basically the "mother" of all planetariums and it sure did make whatever one I went to as a kid look like, well to put it in astronomy terms, a dwarf planet!

Visiting the Griffith Observatory has been on my to do list for quite some time now. Although I hate to say it, the experience was a little dampened by the massive crowds of people, many armed with selfie sticks, everywhere. How narcissistic is it of some people to just want to take pictures of themselves wherever they go?  (Says the hypocritical blogger who made her husband take a bunch of pictures of her at this very location!) 

Below you will find some of my favorite pictures of the Griffith Observatory, just in case you can't see it for yourself or if you just don't want to deal with swarming crowds of people. It was fun to look at the Art Deco architecture of the building and to imagine Jim Stark and Plato from Rebel Without a Cause contemplating "man alone" in the dark of the planetarium. How much more fun would your school field trip to the planetarium have been if those two were along for the trip?