As I drove up the winding road to Sierra Buttes, I idly mused upon the socioeconomic impact of cosmology as I contemplated the low fog. Would it rise, or not?. When I arrived at the parking lot, it was filled with friends eager for a night's observing. I counted at least 4 telescopes set up.
I started my night's observing with one of my favorite objects, M 66. It shimmered, as if it were two scoops of spumoni ice cream. With that checked off my list, I sketched IC 1837. It was like an edge-on barred spiral with a sharp dust lane. Then, I star-hopped to IC 3862 in Serpens. It was a blurry likeness of a swarm of bees. After that, I slewed to Abell 9. It was as bright as cotton candy. With that checked off my list, I hunted IC 3162. It sparkled like Dubya. After that, I showed some guests Abell 98 in Orion. It appeared in the eyepiece like Smokey the Bear. After I'd spent a few minutes looking at that, I checked off Abell 85 in Triangulum. It appeared as fleecy wool.
Finally, it was time to pack up and leave. As I drove home, I contemplated the events of the night, and realized that any night out under the sky with good friends is better than reading observing reports.