Dave's US tour and how to get an ETX through customs...

Folks - I'm still on LA time but firmly back in the (cloudy) emerald isle.

When we went away, I kept a diary of sorts and I'm just about half way through typing it up. Now, I'm up to three pages already and I've only just started giving my review of Star Hill Inn (the observatory we stayed at for 3 nights). I'll try and get it finished tonight.

What I suggest is that I post up a very brief summary on the board but I can upload the Word Document to the files section so that anyone thinking of planning such a trip can get the lessons we learned and the diary in detail and read it at their leisure.

By the way, if after reading it anyone fancied using the piece in e.g Arcturus, I'd have no problem with that.

It really was a fabulous trip and I WILL be going back again. But the lessons we learned will certainly help us the next time we go and will be invaluable advice for anyone considering a similar trip abroad.

And if anyone has any questions in the meantime, just holler.

All I can say right now about Star Hill Inn, Meteor Crater and Lowell is that I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending them to anyone - and it was worth every single Euro/Dollar. I'd even pay double to see just half of the things we saw...!

Cheers

Dave

Dave,

I spent my honeymoon in the west coast of the US. Wasn't an astronomy holiday as you can imagine. But it did have some astro highlights (no not that:) ). We stayed in a hotel 10,000 ft up mammoth mountain in northern California. One night I left the missus at the bar and hopped into the car drove a mile or two up the road and pulled into a picnic area. The sign outside said it was 9,700 ft altitude. When I got out of the car I just couldnt beleive the sky above me. It was so clear and dark, it looked three dimensional. I literally couldnt see my hand in front of my face. I could clearly see a shadow cast by the milky way. In fact I only stayed a couple of minutes as I started to get a little scared. With bears, snakes and god only knows who or what else. It wasnt really a place to hang about. I'll never ever forget that sky. Couple of days later I took part in an 'astro trek' at the grand canyon organised by the park rangers. The sky there really wasnt much better than, say, a good night in wicklow. Was still fun tho. I also viseted meteor crater and that was definitely a highlight. I agree with you that a trip to that part of the world is worth every penny. Looking forward to reading about your adventures.

Regards,

Dave.

I must cross the pond someday and have a look see at that sky.
Dont you just get pissed off with this weather :x

Just about as bad here in CT.