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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