Hi Jamie; Glad to hear that you and your family had a great time at Great Basin! I really like that park and have also enjoyed the star parties there in the past. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend this year. As far as local star parties not displaying so many stars; be aware that there are regularly groups of people who observe from dark sky sites not too far from Salt Lake. Typically a group of us observe at the "Pit-N-Pole" on the weekend prior to new moon, and from a site near Vernon, UT on the weekend nearest new moon. These sites have skies that are nearly as good as you had at Great Basin, and are not far from the Salt Lake valley. So, if you would like to come on out and get some serious observing down without the 3 to 4 hour drive to Great Basin, just watch for announcements here on this list. We usually post where/when we are going. And of course, as Jay has already mentioned, the first Utah Star Party will be held next month at the site near Vernon. Enjoy the excellent dark skies we have which are not too far from home! Mat -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Jamie Bradley Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2013 4:29 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Great Basin My family and I were there from Thursday to Sunday, Beautiful viewing Thursday night, good crowds visiting the scopes. So many stars I had trouble finding things. Plus those rangers have some talent! But clouds and rain Friday and Saturday. They canceled and moved Fridays events and the key note speaker to Saturday. He gave his talk and showed some of his beautiful work. They showed the new ranger minutes about astronomy in the park. Then the movie The City Dark, the last 10 min of the movie got rained out. My family and I had fun doing other things. The one night of viewing was well worth the weekend in that dark sky. Even my wife, who said she did not ever remember seeing the milky way, now says she will miss seeing so many stars at local star parties. This message and any attachments are solely for the use of intended recipients. The information contained herein may include trade secrets, protected health or personal information, privileged or otherwise confidential information. Unauthorized review, forwarding, printing, copying, distributing, or using such information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you are not an intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you received this email in error, and that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this email and any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachment from your system. Thank you for your cooperation