Flagstaff Arizona Astronomy Day

Astronomy Day
Flagstaff, AZ and Sedona / Red Rocks
April 23 - 25, 2004

On Friday, we left bright and early from Poway at 9am and drove all the way to Flagstaff, which according to Mapquest, was a journey of 497.45 miles, and should've taken us 7 hours, 38 minutes. We got there about 4:30, so it was remarkably accurate. We stopped for lunch in a curve in the road called Gila Bend, and ate at the ritziest restaurant in town - Burger King. Someone (in their 20s) was having their birthday party there. I mentioned this to Travis, and he pointed out that the other eating establishments were scarier - there was a run-down A&W, a dilapitated Dairy Queen, and a McDonalds I wouldn't venture into. It's the kind of place that makes you wish for even as horrid a restaurant as Cracker Barrel. Anyways, we pushed through the desert to Phoenix and headed north, arriving without mishap.

The darling clerks at the Holiday Inn Flagstaff gave us the top room with a view of the mountain we had been admiring for the past hour, and recommended Casa Bonita in town as the best Mexican restaurant.
Casa Bonita was in downtown Flagstaff, and tears came to my eyes as I saw they served both Sangria and Chicken Mole. Not only Chicken Mole, but Chicken Poblano, too!

The service there was super speedy, and although the food could have been better, the two sangrias I downed couldn't have. We were out of there in about 1/2 hour, and I dizzily made my way back to the car.

The tallest point in Arizona, Mt Humphreys, is above Flagstaff (elev. c7000ft) at 9000some-odd feet. This mountain we saw from our hotel room.

Downtown Flagstaff, from Observatory Overlook

Flagstaff, I will comment, is a very cute small town. Through it runs Route 66, and every train this side of the Rockies. One of the store clerks told me that on average, one train passes through every five minutes, 24 hours a day. The observatory is a mere 3 miles from downtown (if you were headed west on Rt 66 and didn't follow the sharp turn in the road, you'd go on to the observatory). This is made possible by the tremendous effort Flagstaff makes to be a night-sky friendly city. They're also environmentally friendly, with solar panels being used everywhere.

Saturday we got up and ventured back to the Observatory which we had stopped by on the previous day. There were perhaps a dozen or so people there, and we were feeling quite pleased with our chances at winning the Meade telescope prize. Unfortunately more people kept arriving, and there were probably a couple hundred by the time the drawing was held. Needless to say, we didn't win anything. Activities included looking at sun spots and solar prominences, visiting their astronomy museum, touring the facilities, and looking at Venus in the daytime both through the telescope and with our unaided eyes.
We took a quick break during this for lunch and ate at a place called Buster's - no relation to the San Diego restaurant. It was equivelent to Marie Callenders but without the menu selection. If they had a specialty, we didn't order it.

I was determined to make sure dinner was tasty, and asked the observatory curators and volunteers where to go for 'really good' mexican food. I was recommended a place called La Fonda's ("their tortillas are made with real lard"), and we went there for an early dinner to avoid the crowding we were told would happen. The food was okay, and they served these dough things that people put honey on and ate. (We saw others doing this.)

This is an Albert Squirrel. Albert was an old man who had big ears, with copious amouts of hair growing out of it. Although others noticed, it was his grandkids who first verbalized the similarity - and the parents didn't shush them quite as quick as they might have.

This is an Albert Squirrel. Albert was an old man who had big ears, with copious amouts of hair growing out of them.

The Clark Telescope, where Pluto was almost discovered. This telescope was built in 1896, and has many jury-rigged attachments - for example, the lens cover to the 2nd telescope (the one attached that only goes about 1/2 way "up") was the preivous director's wife's pie pan. She was so cranky about how he used her pan that she didn't bake him a pie for over a year, so the story goes.

The Clark Telescope and dome.
I'm sure they'd be offended, but the wood dome reminds me of the Grand Ballroom at the Hotel Del in Coronado. I guess I just don't see many wooden structures.

Travis and a docent - I think the one who recommended La Fonda's.

The business end of the telescope, which reminded me of something from Myst. This telescope was built in 1896, and has many jury-rigged attachments - for example, the lens cover to the 2nd telescope (the one attached that only goes about 1/2 way "up") was the preivous director's wife's pie pan. She was so cranky about how he used her pan that she didn't bake him a pie for over a year, so the story goes.Travis and the docent are looking at where Venus is in the daytime sky. It's a lot easier to see when there's a telescope already pointed at it.

This picture was taken in the daytime through the Clark Telescope - and Travis's telephoto lens

Venus goes through 'phases' just like the moon!

To the right is a picture of some of the grounds of the observatory. The tour was walking to the dome where Pluto was discovered. (The astronomical sign for Pluto looks like an overlapping P and L (for Percival Lowell). See how crowded it was!

Here was the crowded tour, heading up to the observatory specially built to search for Pluto. They found it!

After dinner, we went to the most amazing used book store either of us had ever been in. It was the size of the Barnes & Noble in town (smaller than San Diego B&Ns), and had.... aisles! I had never seen a used book store with such luxurious real-estate. I even took a picture with Travis's cell phone, trying to be inconspicuous.

That evening we returned to the observatory, and got to look through the Clark Telescope again at Jupiter (a white circle with vertical bacon stripes running through it). Travis claims he saw some of the moons, but I was transfixed by the bacon. The local astronomy club was also there, kindly sharing their telescopes with the public.

Yeah, you try taking better with a cell phone camera!

Highlights for me were the homemade reflecting telescope viewing Jupiter (this time I saw the moons!), seeing Saturn with its rings, looking at the craters on the moon in huge detail, and seeing someone's refracting a.chromatic - or color correcting - telescope hooked up to a ccd and displayed on a television screen. The image was a bit wavy - not from atmospheric heat, but mostly from the heat emanating from the poeple! He ("refractor man") said to watch as people go by, and you can see the heat waves increse! In the Clark Telescope dome, only a few people were allowed inside at a time for the same reason!

The next day we had to drive home, but I really wanted to see the beauty of Sedona...

Next Day Pictures