Quadrantids

On January 3rd, sometime late afternoon, Colin posted a link on FB about the Quadrantids with the comment "Might just have to stay up." The thread that followed made it apparent that a few of us actually really did want to stay up and watch this.

We decided to meet at midnight at the Scott King Trailhead of the American Tobacco Trail. I had JUST gotten back into some sort of normal post Lindy Focus sleep cycle but happily threw it off the sleep cycle and threw on as many warm clothes as I could find.

Note the triple hoodies


Joe, Bengt & I arrived on time. Kristy moments later (with Snicker-doodles!). Colin, my sort of co-ring leader had yet to arrive. We decided to just plop a blanket down in between cars and begin star-gazing. I joked that Colin might think the space in between the cars was a parking space and in the process of parallel parking run us over. I thought it was funny but Joe (closest to the road) was less amused.

Colin arrived with hot chocolate and the entertaining saga of how they were obtained. He went to two places that didn't serve hot chocolate. The third venue (Waffle House?) had hot chocolate. Colin made the mistake of paying one of the staff with a cool (already folded) origami dollar. Another staff member wanted one too and Colin had no option but to oblige and fold one even though he was running late.

We ventured down the trail a teeny tiny bit and set up blankets on the ground and covering us. We were a little short on the blanket cover. I recommended spooning but the idea didn't catch on. So there were are, five of us, snuggled up together in some random spot in the "woods" of Durham. We had some chill Pandora station playing and Colin(?) mentioned we probably looked like we could be in the opening scene is garden state. None of the guys were thrilled about being Zach Braff but I was totally OK playing the role of Natalie Portman.

It got really cold (outside temps were somewhere around 25 degrees and falling) and body heat and blankets and hot chocolate wasn't going to cut it (especially for those of us on the endcaps of the people sandwich).

So, we danced. Lindy, Tranky-Doo and then I made up my own moves for Heat Miser. Here's the sound of Colin & Joe doing the Tranky-Doo.


Oh yeah, and we saw some cool stuff in the sky too. Colin and Kristy (who share a "I'll sleep when I'm dead philosophy") made it to 3am and got an extra spectacular show. For me, getting enough sleep to function on Tuesday was spectacular enough.

When I got home, I deemed our little group "The Freezing Cold Club of Durham" (based on many of us being participants in "Hot Club of Durham" weekly dance.

It was fun. To me, it felt a bit like camp. Though NH never got this cold in the summer.

Here are some "morning after" comments from pals confirming the awesomeness of the experience.