Just a quick note - I was up at Plettstone on Saturday night, got to see a great galaxy image being acquired by Michelle Stone with her C14. In spite of scattered clouds at sunset, the sky cleared up pretty well by 9 PM, and I cruised around with my 80mm refractor and binoculars. The Milk Way to the east of Orion was very striking in binoculars, faint stars were scattered in patches wherever I looked. This was through a gap in the early evening clouds! Since my wife was watching our 4-year old at the hotel in Mariposa, I left at 10 PM during a break in Michelle's imaging run.
Thanks again to Michelle and Paul for welcoming guests!