Well it didn't work out as planned, we never got Eta Carinae.

We did get some great sights though. We got two of the stars in Crux, the Southern Cross, Gacrux and dlt Cru, picked up NGC 3324 and 3293 clusters, and got Omega Centauri (NGC 5139). We were unable to score anything below -58 degrees 40' so missed Eta Carinae. We couldn't get the view we really wanted, Coronado National Monument doesn't allow overnight camping so we had to go into Coronado National Forest which meant we were only at 6000ft ASL instead of 7000.

Highlights:

Drove down to Tucson on Saturday and checked into Gilbert Ray campground. The Tucson club (TAAA) had an event Saturday night at their TIMPA site so met up with some of the people from GCSP. Dennis was trying to steal George's 31mm Nagler all night. Someone had an "Image Intensifier" and wanted to try it in Dennis's 28" DOB, scored the Horse Head Nebula (IC434) with it, looked just like a picture.

Sunday met up with Dean (TAAA) at the Stewart Observatory Mirror Lab for a private tour, (he works there) they are making the mirrors for the Large Binocular Telescope so got to see one being ground. It's the largest mirror ever made at 8.4 meters. Did a star show with TAAA for the University of Arizona Astronomy classes (200 and 300 level) that was an early night, the students got cold.

Monday drove down to Coronado National Forest, checked in with the rangers to see how the roads were and got a backhanded warning to go armed. Seems that it's a major crossing point for illegal entry into the U.S. and can be dangerous. Stopped and talked with a couple of Border Patrol officers and got the same warning. Told them if they want to stop by later we would be happy to have them visit and to warn their other officers that we were out there. (To keep their lights off us) They told us to play music loud just so the illegals knew where we were, might help them avoid us.

Heading back to Phoenix on Tuesday got stopped in a Border Patrol road block, just a couple quick questions and on our way again.

All in all it was a fun trip