MR. MOON, MOON, BRIGHT AND SILVERY MOON. . .

Sometimes I like to do things entirely on a whim. Last night was no exception.

As I was heading to bed around midnight, already cozy in my pjs, I passed by a window and the glowing moonlight caught my eye. Standing there for a few seconds, gazing at the bright moon, I decided to throw caution to the wind. I made my way to my room, glanced at the time on the clock and my inviting bed, then turned and slipped a jacket on over my pajamas, wiggled my feet into some shoes, grabbed my keys and headed out the door.

I'm pretty sure that I was trying to recapture the glory of the last full moon I experienced, which just so happened to take place out in the wide open waters of the Gulf of Mexico on board a cruise ship. But when you're attempting to relive a moment as magical as laying in bed staring out the window at the luminous reflection of the moon on the water, whilst being bathed in the cascading moonlight yourself as you gently are rocked back and forth by the swaying of the boat, it's almost guaranteed that it will not be matched. Which, sadly to say, it wasn't.

Rather, last night I found myself driving the empty streets all by myself trying to think of a place that I could go that would A.) allow me to soak in the beauty of the moonlight without it having to compete with the light from street lamps and/or buildings, and would B.) not be a perfect setting to meet an axe murderer face-to-face. As a result, except for my brief foray outside by the water's edge downtown, my moonlight activity consisted of remaining in my car, driving through the back roads and attempting to capture the night sky with my camera -- which resulted with this shot (the best of the bunch, unfortunately):

It may not have been quite what I had hoped it would be when I had opted to have a date with the moon rather than a date with my bed. And I may have run the risk of getting called in for suspicious behavior (i.e. driving slow, turning my lights off and on, stopping in the middle of the road. . .in the wee hours of the night). But it was a unique excursion all it's own that was still worth every minute it.