logo

The Global Domain Name (url) Families.com is currently available for acquisition. Please contact by phone at 805-627-1955 or Email for Details

Weekend Wanderings: Honey I Shrunk the Solar System

I’m back to bring you another Weekend Wandering that I took my daughter on, it’s a week late, but this time last week I was at the hospital for surgery and I wasn’t quite up to my usual par for typing. But as I detailed in my first weekend wandering, my daughter and I are now trying to spend our weekends on adventuring through our local area and discovering the hidden treasures that are hosted by our city.

Honey I Shrunk the Solar System

For this particular weekend wandering, we took a drive out to the University of Texas at Arlington, about an hour away from where we live, to see a view a show they were hosting at the planetarium. The show was titled: Honey, I Shrunk the Solar System. If you’ve ever seen the movies of the similar title (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and others) then you’ve likely got a decent idea of what this might be about.

My daughter had never been to a planetarium before and it’s been years since the last time I went to one. She was curious that it seemed to look a lot like a theater right up until it went dark. If you’ve never been inside a planetarium before, it’s important to understand that it’s pitch black when they shut the lights off.

She was a little startled and her little hand found it’s way into mine and then the images began to play across the wall in front of us, on the ceiling above us and all around us. I heard her little intake of air and the whoosh of surprise as she exhaled. It was a spectacular image.

The Show Was Unexpected

The show focused on a science project done by a young girl that she wanted to show her father. She’d shrunk the solar system down to a representative set of billboards and objects. He had to drive from planet to planet and at each stop, we got a grand visual of the planet and the known scientific facts about it as well as some fun quiz questions.

It was a delightful way to get an introduction to the planets that comprise the solar system and I was amazed by how many of them she recognized and knew the names of. At the end of the ‘program,’ the presenter then gave us some spectacular views of the heavens as seen through telescopes and a panorama of the different constellations.

It was the first time my daughter actually saw the Milky Way outside of a picture book. All told the program aired for just 55 minutes and cost about $5 to see, but it was well worth both the time and the money spent. She’s already asked for a return to the Planetarium and she added a telescope to her list of things she’d like to ask Santa for.

Have you visited the local Planetarium in your area?

Related Articles:

The Best 60 Bucks We Ever Spent

A Rare Astronomical Event

Dinner & A Movie

Go Lunar In Chicago… Or In Your Own Backyard

This entry was posted in Destinations and tagged , , , , by Heather Long. Bookmark the permalink.

About Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago. They have a beautiful daughter who just turned five years old. She is learning to read and preparing for kindergarten in the fall. An author of more than 300 articles and 500+ web copy pieces, Heather has also written three books as a ghostwriter. Empty Canoe Publishing accepted a novel of her own. A former horse breeder, Heather used to get most of her exercise outside. In late 2004, early 2005 Heather started studying fitness full time in order to get herself back into shape. Heather worked with a personal trainer for six months and works out regularly. She enjoys shaking up her routine and checking out new exercises. Her current favorites are the treadmill (she walks up to 90 minutes daily) and doing yoga for stretching. She also performs strength training two to three times a week. Her goals include performing in a marathon such as the Walk for Breast Cancer Awareness or Team in Training for Lymphoma research. She enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience through the fitness and marriage blogs.