Ann, decades ago in my youth, my friends and I flew our radio-controlled sailplanes from those very same hills because the wind blew almost all the time. I grew up in the UofU neighborhood and spent a lot of time in the hills east of SLC. That said, any star-party with a direct view of city lights must be taken for what it is- public outreach. It's not an ideal site by any means, but if you can't bring the public to the star party, you bring the star-party to the public. This is one of the trade-offs. My wife and I stopped-by the Harmons star-party on Friday night briefly, but as we were both not 100% physically, we didn't stick around. Attendance there was remarkably high, both general public and SLAS members. You couldn't turn around without almost bumping into a telescope. It's been a long, cold winter! People are glad to get out again, even at mediocre venues. On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 8:31 AM, Ann Blanchard <a.blanchard@ugs.utah.edu> wrote:
I wondered what impressions any of you had of star gazing from This is the Place? Craig and I went out Saturday and there was a large turn out of folks with scopes. There is a broad view to the west and they let us drive our cars right up to where we were viewing so we didn't have to haul things. I have to say first that I am a wimp about cold, so my view may not fit with others, but the wind blew all the time, and by 10:00 the two flags they had were waving at full tilt with the metal banging desperately into the polls. I was freezing, nose running constantly and my eyes watered from the wind so much I could hardly look through the scopes. I remembered that we had tried viewing once from Research Park and the wind in July made it uncomfortable, so I asked the very friendly volunteer from This is the Place if it was always windy like this and he cheerfully replied that it was. I had fun with the people there, but I really have no desire to go back again. Just curious what others thought.