A DEEPER LOOK
CANTON AND SURROUNDING AREAS (con't)

As we headed into Tyler that afternoon, I was starting to feel really terrible. During our time at Tyler State Park, I had been unusually thirsty, and now I was experiencing a terrible headache and had a strong desire to lay down. I am not sure what was wrong with me exactly, but Lara was convinced that mexican food was just what I needed. She knew of a place that might be dog-friendly, or at least we could eat near the dog, and it was on the south end of town. We were coming from the north and for a small town, there were a tons of lights and congestion. I felt awful and it took about all I had to keep driving.
We tried a cache on the way, and even though we looked hard, we couldn't find it. This was a premonition of things to come. I guess I was just having a really off day.
We sat on the deck of the mexican food restaurant, and even though I was totally into my burrito dinner, soda, and girl talk, (he-llo queso with taco meat!) I couldn't stop obsessing about my dog. It was a nice day, about eighty degrees outside with a breeze, and the windows were half-open in the car, where he had to stay (apparently it is not that dog-friendly). I had requested we sit outside in the patio, even though they didn't typically use that area this time of day, so I could keep an eye on the dog. That is exactly what I did, and every move he made I interpreted as some kind of discomfort. It was completely irritating Lara, and even when she asked me to stop worrying, I couldn't let it go. It's the whole vet tech thing, or mom thing, always worrying about the dangers of particular scenarios, liking leaving a dog in a closed car, of heat stroke, of not being able to let go of the need to keep things safe for my little ones.
When we left, we tried caching again, but luck, or skill, were not with us. I finally started to feel a little better, but looking all around, up and down, for little urban micros was just not comfortable with a full stomach. We did meet some really nice couples at a park we stopped at, who came over and introduced themselves because they wanted to pet Scout. He was quite the hit at the park. We finally had to explain geocaching to them because we just looked too odd looking underneath the bleachers they were sitting on.
Eh, then I just wasn't in the mood anymore. We did get one find after all that, one easy cheesy but interesting virtual that had been recommended to me called Rose Hill Tombstone. We had a good time driving through the cemetary it was in as the sun was setting, and got off some great shots of Jesus there in the setting sun before I had a gastronomical situation and had to get somewhere more private in a hurry...
Now it was time to start looking for a spot to engage in Lara's newest hobby, stargazing. We decided to start heading out west towards Canton on the backroads but to keep an eye out for the perfect place to set up the telescope. The sun was just starting to go down and time was of the essence, because the idea was to be all set up when the stars started to come out.
When we would come to a crossroads, we kept elected to take the road less taken. The road that looked less populated, was away from any lights from the town, stores, lots of cars. The road that may or may not take us back to Canton. I lost all sense of where we were but kept trying to make sure I was headed in the right direction - when in doubt, go north, or west. It was getting darker and we were getting more desperate for the perfect place. We started taking little side roads off the back roads, side roads that would turn out to be filled with potholes, or dead ends, a bunch of roads that led to nowhere.
We kept seeing these signs for historical markers or cemetaries, but when we would reach where the sign indicated, we could see nothing. We even backtracked to one thinking surely...surely this would be a perfect spot....nothing. Finally we came to a place that was BOTH a historical marker and a cemetary, with ample parking, that was actually there, which was good timing because our bladders were about to explode.
While she was setting up the telescope, I was taking care of some personal business. Then the dog starting limping, which luckily turned out to be thistles stuck in his pads, but I was kind of torn between putting him back in the car or taking him with me out to the middle of the graveyard where Lara was. I was still kind of caught up in some text messages when I realized Lara was having a meltdown because I had left her all alone when she had wanted to share her hobby with me.
Ah, we weren't seeing things the same way, and she was really upset and I really didn't know how best to calm her down. She packed everything up and was insisting we go back to the hotel, since I was so tired, but by this point, I was into what we were doing and wasn't really wanting to go back without seeing this stargazing thing in action.
Finally I convinced her I was willing to share her interest, and by this time we had made it back to Canton, and I decided to try going up this little hill I had seen behind the dog show grounds.
So, after all that driving and drama in the darkness, we end the day where we started it, at the First Monday Trade Days grounds. We got the telescope set up and the moon looked like a slick sugary candy to me. Mostly I watched Lara, moon glowing large against her profile, as she tried to get a good view of twinkling stars. I was fascinated by the way she looked to me, but I could not get the camera to recreate the image I was seeing.
I'm glad we went. It was the perfect place for this kind of activity. I will remember this part of the day for a long time. Someday I hope we can find that old cemetary again, too, because that was a cool place.
Stargazing seems like a pretty neat hobby. I couldn't stop thinking about my microscope that I use every day at work, and how all this time I've been thinking about how with it, I am looking in at a world so small most people aren't even aware it exists, but in it, organisms are eating, reproducing, fighting, living out their little lives. I feel like I imagine God must when He looks down at our world.
Up here, though, there is a whole other world, a great giant world we can see through the telescope, and gain an understanding of life and God and how amazing this universe is. Through its lens, we can get a deeper look at ourselves and our place in this great galaxy.