by Ron Gross
I just read a report of 3000-5000 showed up for the Foothill Mars Party. No Mars. Mad dash to the cars. Total gridlock for hours.Anyone there?
Yep, I was there. As a PAS member I (and many others) volunteered to set up some scopes to offer some assistance to the observatory (help spread out the crowds). I had just enough time to finish aligning my ETX when the clouds finished moving in. The crowds were as you read. I spent the night explaining the differences between my ETX-125 and my 17" dob. It is amazing how many people walk up to a dob and don't realize it is a telescope! I left around 10:45. The crowds had mostly cleared out by then and the gridlock was pretty much over, but there was still a steady stream of visitors arriving. I'm glad I got in a good amount of personal observing time the night before.
Doing it all over again this Friday, hopefully without the clouds.