“I’ve been there before,” Winter said when I told her the plan. “We went on a school field trip.” I guess I shouldn’t have waited so long. I don’t even remember signing the permission slip.
Winter seemed neither excited nor disgusted about visiting the planetarium. The boyfriend and I had never been, so we were a little excited. We were going to the “Dinosaurs!” family show — we figured it would be like Jurassic Park in the “sky.”
We arrived a little early, so we had plenty of time in our reclined seating to read outer space trivia projected on the domed ceiling. Johnnie, who’s normally very good at trivia, bombed every question. Winter and I didn’t even bother. She was fussing about the seat making her hair staticky, and I was infuriatingly distracted by the little boy chomping gum behind me.
There were kids everywhere (except for the front row where a suspicious couple looked like they had eaten a fistful of psychedelic mushrooms). Unfortunately, I didn’t find the kid chattering as cute as everyone else did. The beginning of the show featured a projectionist who interacted with the audience while teaching about the night stars. The younger kids were screaming and quite vocal about this information. I guess it was a little bit cute when Orion was pointed out and a boy yelled, “I know him!”
The projectionist used a red laser pointer to highlight the North Star, the Seven Sisters, Taurus and other constellations. I swear to god the circular movement of the laser pointer bugged out my eyes so bad I almost had a seizure. (Sidenote: Can one of you billionaires please donate a mil or two to upgrade the planetarium’s ancient technology? Please?)
By the time we got to the dinosaurs, I was feeling a little too comfy in my recliner and approaching naptime at light speed. I tried to focus on the T-Rex drawing that swooped across the ceiling while blocking out Winter whispering “I’m thirsty!”
I struggled to stay awake to learn about the Mesozoic Era and how the dinosaurs evolved into birds and reptiles. It’s not that the show was boring, it’s just that when I’m relaxed in a dark room, sleep usually happens. Alas, the stench of either a baby’s dirty diaper or a nearby fart awoke me from my pleasant Mesozoic slumber.
Although the Southworth Planetarium didn’t fulfill my Jurassic Park hopes, it was still informative and I enjoyed learning how to locate the North Star. Apparently Winter wasn’t all that impressed as she claimed the show “looked like people drew the dinosaurs, so it wasn’t that fascinating. I wish people lived back then. They could have taken pictures for us.”
She did say she’d go back, though. And as soon as they upgrade the technology in the planetarium, so will I.
Go to www.usm.maine.edu/planet for Southworth Planetarium’s monthly schedule with descriptions of each program.