Sat, Dec 7 2013 - Hiking, Astronomy & Stargazing with Telescopes at Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center + Dinner! (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): Charlie Cottingham Participants: Charlie Cottingham, Kristen, Smitha, Patty C, Mark C, Christina, Adel

We seven AOCers feel very lucky to have stuck with the plan to enjoy this hiking + astronomy event at Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center despite a forecast that had wrongly predicted showers - and doubly lucky to have returned home this evening with several hundred dollars worth of door prizes!  In reality we had nary a drop of rain all day and perfect weather for having fun together that began with our scheduled 2-hour lakeside & creekside hike. We were surrounded by gorgeous scenery all along the way including brilliant red cardinals, granite outcrops, bright green ferns and mosses, and even quite a few colorful fall leaves that remained on the sweetgums, beeches and catbriers.
  Our loop hike conveniently began and ended at the “Campbell” aquatics center where we hooked up at 3:30 with our gracious CE Astronomy Club hosts.  Their program included a fascinating indoor slide show, a lively discussion about “What’s up in the sky this month?” and photos taken by CE club members of “Comet ISON” just before it got too close to the sun last week to survive in one piece.  We then all pigged out on the delicious quarterly potluck dinner for which each of us had brought a food or refreshment item to contribute.
  The CE Astronomy meeting concluded with a drawing for numerous valuable donated door prizes.  Congrats to our AOCers for winning some of the nicest items:  Kristen went home with a nice Newtonian reflector telescope and Patty with a luxurious insulated “observing jacket” - and this was their first AOC event or astronomy event!  A friend of mine, Ken Poshedly, was offering a “steal of a deal” on a Meade 4.5-inch computer-driven “go-to” telescope.  I gladly took it off his hands and intend to put to good use on upcoming AOC camping trips, evening dayhikes, etc.
  Despite the skies being a bit too overcast this time to do any actual skygazing or observing we all went home this evening feeling thankful to have a “standing invitation” from our astronomy club friends to “celebrate the universe” with them.
  - Submitted by Charlie, Sat Dec 7, 8:30 PM.