by Ed Greenberg
Michelle Stone wrote:
Paul and I arrived at Plettstone on Wednesday night about 11 PM. The skies were overcast and we had just driven through holiday hell to get there. It seems that everyone wants to leave silicon paradise on a long weekend. Who can blame them?
I want to publicly thank Michelle for opening her preserve to us. We had our RV with us, and parked in the level spot where Michelle's folks usually park.
We got in on Friday afternoon after helping to polish off the family's 24 pounder. Seven of us couldn't make a dent, so we came away with a trailer-fridge full of leftovers.
I had a lot less energy in me than Michelle, Andrew and even Paul did, and I'm much more of a newbie, but I worked through my project for the weekend, which was to observe the featured objects in both Sky&Telescope and Astronomy's centerfolds. I did Astronomy's list on Friday night... mostly clusters in Perseus. I dragged Roseann out of the trailer to see the double cluster, and she stayed for the rest. When we got dewed up, we packed it in and went to bed.
Saturday, we explored Mariposa a bit, and Saturday night hosted Michelle and Paul for Baked Ziti and meatballs, in the trailer. One of the things I like about this whole astronomy gig is the friends I'm making.
Saturday night, after dinner, I had planned to go out later in the evening, but Michelle knocked on the trailer door to tell us that Ganymede was transiting, so out I went. Poor Roseann got dragged out in her robe and her heavy boots, to see. After working through the Sky & Telescope recommended fuzzies, most of which I could not see, even though I could see the stars that showed me I was in the right place, I again got dewed out, and hit the hay.
I think the right thing to do would have been to come out again at midnight.
All in all, we had a wonderful time, both observing and camping, and we'll definitely take Michelle up on her future invitations.
Also gotta do something about the dew.