Saturday, October 20, 2018

WA Ballot Getaway Oct 2018


Washington ballot getaway
10.20.18-10.22.18
Goldendale and back

Waiting for our ballots to arrive so we could hit the road.  They were mailed on Wednesday and now it was Saturday and they were no where in sight. So we decided to take a mini getaway and come back in a couple of days. We headed east making it a short drive day to Selah Rest Area just before Yakima.  We found a spot with a view of the southeastern sky.  The hope was that we would be able to see Orionids meteor shower at 3am.  Kevin tried out his new stainless steel growler with co2 tap handle from Jo.  He had filled it a couple of days ago and it worked wonderfully. We ate our dinner and then nestled into bed.  At 10:30pm, there was a knock on the window.  A guy holding a fan belt in one hand, asked for $19 to go to Walmart to buy some parts. That was met with skepticism by us.  Kevin told the guy “Sorry dude, we don’t have any cash” and he went on his way.  We’ve had someone knock on our windows on other trips. The first time, a guy needed a fire extinguisher to put out his wayward campfire that had spread due to the gas can he placed next to it.  Another time was on the Erie canal, the police knocked on our window looking for deadbeat Daniel who owed back rent at the marina.  At 3am, the alarm sounded, needless to say no one really wanted to get up.  Kevin rolled over not interested and went back to sleep.   I figured well,  I’m awake now so I will take a peek outside.  No meteors were visible due to the Yakima city lights below us.  Darn light pollution! I gave it a good 15 minutes and then gave up and went back to bed. 

The next day we drove to Goldendale and Maryhill.  We visited the WWI Stonehenge memorial.  It sits on top of a hill overlooking the Columbia River.  It is a replica of England’s Stonehenge but it is made of concrete and not aligned with the sun because the builders forgot to take into account the differences in latitude.  Inside the memorial are war hero plaques.   This is also the temporary location for the Goldendale Observatory which is being rebuilt at another location and should be open by this time next year.  The observatory was giving two talks that day.  One at 2pm on the solar system and sun and the second at 6pm about the night sky.   We decided to attend both.   We were the only two attending the 2pm show, so we enjoyed an excellent lecture by the administrator of the observatory. Normally, only supposed to be an hour long program, we got the college version per the lecturer, a 2 hour lecture and lots of telescope time checking out the sun. It was awesome!  From the telescope, we were able to see a solar prominence (a large, bright feature extending outward into the sun’s outer atmosphere), filaments (magnetic loops that hold relatively cool, dense gas suspended above the surface of the Sun) and plages (bright regions in the chromosphere of the Sun typically hotter spots on  the surface).  Sadly, there were no sun spots visible on that day.  FYI the sun’s core is 27 million degrees while the surface averages 10,000 degrees.  For the night show, there was one other couple and a couple of locals that attended, so still a small group. Through the telescope we saw Saturn and its rings, Mars, a Double Double Star, Ring Nebula, and Andromeda Galaxy.  We also saw an iridium flare with the naked eye.  Iridium flares or glints are the visible phenomenon caused by the reflective surfaces of passing satellites (such as antennas, SAR or solar panels), reflecting sunlight toward the Earth below and appearing as a brief, bright "flare".

In the future, iridium flares will no longer happen as these types of satellites are being replaced.  After the program, we drove east on Hwy 14 to our campsite at Cliffs Park, an Army Corps of Engineers recreation area.  We had pre-scouted it earlier that day.  Along the shore, the native Americans have built several platforms from which they fish with their nets.  As the season was over, we saw only one guy fishing and watched him catch about one fish in each net.  He told me that just a couple of weeks ago, he had caught 140lbs.  The rec area was a great place to overnight, it was free and a clean pit toilet always brings a smile.  In addition, because it’s October, there was no one here. Our campsite was just below the dam next to the locks. At night the dam is lit up in red, white and blue.  We even got to see a huge barge go through the opening to the locks. 

The next day we drove west on Hwy 14. What a beautiful drive with lots of stuff to do.  We will be back, but for now we headed on to meet up with our friends the Hiltz’s for lunch at a local brew pub.  While we were at lunch, Bobdog enjoyed playing with the other beagles.  From there, we said our goodbyes and headed home keeping our fingers crossed that our ballots had arrived so that we could vote and then be on our way again.

Yeah! Our ballots arrived.  We VOTED because it is the best way to help change what is happening to our country by the corrupt current administration. 

So get out there and VOTE!

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