One, I love anything dealing with outer space. Through most of my school days I wanted to be an astronomer. I had memorized all of the early space flights -- Mercury, Gemini, Apollo. I had a telescope and star charts. So I had to come here.

I really did not know what to expect to see here. Normally observatories are in the higher altitudes, like nearby Mt. Wilson. Mt. Wilson is closed during winters because of the difficulty of driving the mountain roads up to it. Griffith is on somewhat of a mountain. It had just incredible views 360 degrees that overlooked downtown LA, the famous "Hollywood" sign on the side of the mountain, and numerous homes and mountains.

The actual building of the Griffith Observatory is very beautiful. Looks sort of like the Taj Mahal. Great architecure. And the grounds around it beautifully done.

Inside was a very well designed and laid out display of anything dealing with astronomy. They go to great lengths to explain numerous aspects of all things astronomy including optics of telescopes and the sun and planets and more. As good as anything that could be seen in the Smithsonian Museums. Quite impressive.