From the USDA Blog:
Earlier this year, approximately 80 people oohed and ahhed as meteors streaked across the sky from all directions over Shasta Lake during the Perseid meteor showers. In partnership with the Shasta Astronomy Club, the Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area provided visitors with expert information on celestial objects and events and a guided tour through the night sky.
This weekend, you have an opportunity to do the same when the 2013 Leonid meteor shower peaks on the night of Saturday, Nov. 16 into the early morning hours of Sunday, Nov. 17. According to NASA, Leonids are bits of debris from Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Every 33 years the comet visits the inner solar system and leaves debris in its wake. Many of these have drifted across the November portion of Earth’s orbit. Whenever our planet hits one, meteors appear to be flying out of the constellation Leo. Unfortunately for meteor watchers, this year a full moon will likely wash out all but the very brightest Leonids.
Last August, the dark night skies along the shores of California’s Shasta Lake provided the perfect backdrop for the annual Perseid meteors which put on a dazzling display of shooting stars each year. At times, 50 to 100 meteors streaked across the sky in an hour. Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area staff compiled a list of sightings to contribute to NASA’s ongoing tracking for this meteor shower.
From Craigslist:
The 88th Annual Trek to the Nation’s Christmas Tree takes place Sunday, December 8th, 2013, at 2:30pm in Kings Canyon National Park.
The Integratron is a building – or a ‘device’ – built entirely without nails in Landers, California, near Joshua Tree. It was designed by aeronautic engineer George van Tassel, who finished the main structure in 1959, but left the building unfinished at the time of his death in 1978.