TIMING IS EVERYTHING

PHASES OF THE MOON

Turns out that stargazing is pretty much a haphazard activity involving patience and luck. Oh sure the night is always there following the day, and anyone can step outdoors and peer up at the heavens, no matter where you are, but there’s no guarantee you’ll see much of anything. There will be a couple of planets, a constellation or two and the moon. But, it won’t be dark enough to really see the night sky.

There are a lot of factors that impact stargazing, firstly the disruption of the Circadian Rhythm of humans who like to sleep when it’s dark. Then there’s weather and clouds that impact the clarity of the night sky and then there’s the moon. As the moon waxes and wanes its light increases from a new moon, reflecting none of the sun to a full moon and then decreases or wanes towards a new moon again to begin the cycle anew. 

CARPE NOCTEM

So, these factors impact the casual stargazer who may not have the foresight or intelligence to consider the cycles of the moon, or the weather or the necessity to get out there in the middle of the night to truly experience the night. Yes, timing is everything and even if you properly plan there still is a lot of luck involved. Even the Dark Sky Park of Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania which is the best place on the East coast for stargazing there’s just 60 to 80 nights of optimum viewing per year. It’s not a light switch you can flick on.

If we had planned this trip last week it would have been perfecting timing. The new moon this month was July 13^th and today, July 24^th the Waxing Gibbous should finally set around 3 am. We could have dealt with that, except that it’s pouring. Even if we wanted to get out there and wait and hope for the skies to reveal all their stars the rains are drenching us. Last week we were blessed with beautiful clear weather.  

What’s especially sad is that on Friday, July 27^th, the day we return home, there will be a full lunar eclipse that will be the longest in the 21^st Century. It will last approximately 103 minutes! We will miss it here at Cherry Springs State Park, but perhaps we’ll see it at home?

CARPE BEER 

Timing is everything. It’s time to get a beer at the Crittenden Hotel.

from Wikipedia

Rain rain go away

So much for seeing the stars. Here we are in beautiful downtown Coudersport PA and it’s raining and the forecast calls for much more rain throughout the night. We’re holed up in our hotel, the Crittenden, located at the traffic light in Coudersport; you can’t miss it.

The rain is not just wreaking havoc on the stargazing we had expected to do at Cherry Springs State Park, a Dark Sky Park, and perhaps the best place to see the Milky Way on the east coast, but it is also putting a “damper” on the entire area. Word has it that flooding has gotten so bad that Hershey Park Amusement Park has closed down for the day and a state of emergency has been declared in several Pennsylvania towns due to flash flooding. The rain will not abate tonight…or tomorrow. I fear there were not be any stargazing on this trip.

Janet and I drove the 200+ miles to Cherry Springs today at least thankful we weren’t going this far and also have to camp in the rain. Facilities at the Park are rustic; no hot showers, etc., so early in the planning stages of this trip we opted for a hotel. On our way to Coudersport and our hotel we did stop at Cherry Springs and surveyed the grounds and the night sky public viewing area and resolved to return in the future. Even tomorrow, Tuesday night, looks bad.

UNTOUCHABLE…WHO KNEW?

Turns out the hotel we are staying at… the only hotel in Coudersport I might add… The Crittenden…. has a unique history. Eliot Ness, of the Untouchables fame, had moved to Coudersport in the mid-1950’s as part of a business venture and eventually died here of a heart attack in 1957. Prior to his death he met regularly at the Crittenden with a ghost writer to document his battles with the Chicago mob and Al Capone. Ness died before the book was finished, but the highly sensationalized account led to the myth of the Untouchables, the law enforcement agents who could not be bribed or scared off by the Chicago mob. The Ness legend endures and we are staying in room 1 at the Crittenden, the room where Ness and his ghost writer would meet.

Hotel Crittenden 

The Crittenden is being renovated, but the room is clean and neat and overlooks the traffic light with the county courthouse rising into the rain drenched sky. Thankfully there is a bar/restaurant downstairs boasting a reasonable beer list and a nice menu served with large portions and decent prices so we don't have to go hunting for food or drink. Coudersport is about 12 miles outside of Cherry Springs State Park. There were places closer to the park to stay, but the Crittenden is a good hotel with a friendly staff.

HOTEL CRITTENDEN

Eliot Ness

NESS FEST

Turns out the 1^st annual Eliot Ness Fest was held just this past weekend honoring the town’s most famous citizen. The weekend featured walking and speakeasy tours, a “bootleg booze convoy hijacking”, a parade and afterwards a reenactment of the arrest of Al Capone. Also viewings of different documentaries about Ness and the movie The Untouchables with Kevin Costner were shown at different times at the local theater. Evidently the weekend soiree was so well attended and unexpected that the Crittenden ran out of food on Sunday.

 ELIOT NESS FEST

Hopefully the rain will clear out sometime soon. 

Thanks for reading.