Last night (Friday the 17th), we went out to see the comet. We decided to go ‘up the hill’ since it was foggy at the beach and it seemed likely the murk was going to flow into town. We chose a spot west of Santa Margarita Lake (a bit southeast from the marker on the map) because it is away from anything, pretty flat, and not many trees. We got there about 8:30 – about 15 minutes after sunset. We brought Ellyn’s binoculars and were able to spot the comet by around 9:10. It was about mid way between the big dipper and the horizon. By about 9:30 it was clearly visible to the naked eye – including the big tail. Continued to become more visible as the sky got darker. Great view of the milky way, and Jupiter happened to be at its brightest in the opposite direction. With the binoculars we could see several of Jupiter’s moons. If you can get to a dark sky place in the next few days/week, you should definitely go for it!

Other things:

Cupcakes for my birthday.

Carrots from the garden.

Ridiculously cute cats.