Chasing the Moon

This is not what we saw.

But we did rush up to Inspiration Point in the Berkeley hills on Saturday evening.  I thought we'd be the only ones with such an ingenious idea: go see the biggest moon of 2012, the Supermoon!

But no.  Already the parking lot was full and cars were circling and lined up and down the side of the road.  It was a festival of Berkeley quirkiness and diversity, including us, a bemused entomologist and his bossy wife who insisted we Go Look.

A blurry phone photo of the scene

There were old men in berets and Birkenstocks, raggedy urchins who probably go to $25,000/year private schools, lots of gray-bobbed ladies, people with cameras on tripods, and tipsy people with champagne flutes.  Also, strollers, babies, blankets on the ground, and a seven-year-old boy wearing a cape who asked, wide-eyed, if we might see some owls.  I mean, if you're going to see a huge moon, why not some owls?

Tremendously long lenses

We all gazed expectantly just to the left of Mt. Diablo in the distance, which  Jerry questioned.  How did anyone know exactly where the moon would rise?  After 25 minutes of standing around, someone in the crowd cried, "There it is," and sure enough, to the right of Mt. Diablo, behind some trees, bright orange orb was slowly rising.  The I-mean-business photographers swung into action. It was 8:34 pm.


Because we didn't see the moon rise at the horizon,  it wasn't all that  impressive.  But it was fun. As one onlooker said, "Isn't it wonderful?  It brings everyone out."

Then we drove down the other side of the hills, glimpsing the moon through the trees as we went, and back along the freeway and over the hill back to the west side of the Berkeley hills. The moon, at that point, was nothing beyond its usual magic.

The moon rising above the trees