Empty Nest Syndrome

I've been looking at the pictures that have been coming back from Mars. Holy fuckshit! Is anyone else impressed beyond all? Right now I have the large "Empty Nest" picture up. It's so big that I can't fit it all in even with my browser in kiosk mode. OK, so it means I need a bigger monitor but fuck! This huge panoramic view of the Martian surface - it's sublime. As a kid, I always enjoyed looking at photographs from the Viking. What's really cool is that I can look at marvelous pictures of another planet a few hours after they were taken. Staring at the image, I imagine what it would be like to be standing there. The picture gives such a feeling of serenity but I'd imagine there's more at play than meets the eyes. Man, it would be so cool to perambulate around Mars. Take a lazy stroll over to the face and see if there's a door like in the game Zak McCracken and the Alien Mindbenders. Then head over to the adjacent geographic features and measure them to see if Dick Hoagland is right. Then I could pull out the telescope and look at you jokers back here on Earth. The feeling of solitude would be...ultimate.