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<font color="#FF0000">I'll just jump in here with a couple of notes in
RED...<br><br>
</font>At 10:29 AM 4/22/2009, Rob wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Jonathan,<br><br>
Tomorrow night and Friday night we have a couple of Education Outreach
Events we are doing. Thursday night we are up at Camp Foxtail on Mt
Charleston for a 5th Grade Elementary Class and Friday night we are at
Sunset Park for the Las Vegas Area Council Scout Expo. We're
expecting around 500 Scouts to visit our scopes Friday
night.</blockquote><br>
<font color="#FF0000">I think we're good for Camp Foxtail. I also
assume you came to the DESERT (85 degrees) and not the mountains (35
degrees last night), so you can skip the camp. If you're up for an
evening of showing the sky to a bunch of scouts, we could use the help
Friday.<br><br>
</font><blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">We may have some folks
going out Saturday night to the Redstone Picnic Area on Northshore Road
which is north of Lake Mead Blvd. That's about as dark a site as we
can get only 30 miles outside of Vegas.</blockquote><br>
<font color="#FF0000">Rob's fingers got away from his brain; the Redstone
picnic area is north of Lake Mead, not Lake Mead Blvd. It is a good
site. The weather is looking iffy, but I still want to go
out. I'll probably post notice for going out there, on Thursday,
see if there are any takers.<br><br>
The bottom line of observing around Vegas is that, because of the
(usually) low humidity, the light doesn't scatter much. So if you
go an hour in any direction (40 miles or so) and turn off the highway,
three-quarters of the sky (any direction away from Vegas) will be nice
for viewing.<br><br>
Two other reminders: TAKE A JACKET with you. The desert cools
rapidly, and you can suddenly find yourself shivering. TAKE SOME
WATER with you. 5% humidity will dry you out.<br><br>
</font><blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">As for the critters,
we've never had a problem being attacked by anything.</blockquote><br>
<font color="#FF0000">In 5 years of going into the desert, I've not
encountered anything. However, the weather is trying to warm
up. Once it does, you can have snakes in the early evening, but
they should hide away as the evening cools. Coyotes make noise off
in the distance. I don't know of any particular cats around Las
Vegas. To my knowledge (and experience, so far), anything out there
that is dangerous will usually run away from you faster than you can run
away from it.<br><br>
-- David</font></body>
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