Blue: as in Blue Moon, Bluegrass and Blue Sky. As I write this there is Bluegrass music in my ears and the brilliant blue sky is overhead. We are in the community of Goldendale Washington, and they have pulled out all of the stops. We are attending the first, perhaps first annual, Blue Moon, Bluegrass Camp and Jam Festival. For a first ever event this place is incredible. They have some top ranked bluegrass bands on the event list, they managed to snare a visiting astronaut, Dr. Stephen K. Robinson, and they have one of the very few public access astronomical telescopes in the world right here in Goldendale.

As usual we visited all the picking tents and did some bluegrass jamming during our stay. The diehards kept at it until two or three A.M., but we cut our losses around midnight. Gary joined a scramble band that placed second in the scramble band contest. We watched the blue moon on a clear cloudless night and then visited the observatory that is just at the outskirts of town. The observatory is hosting a NASA exhibit and Gary got to try on an authentic Apollo Astronaut training helmet. Photo will be on the web page below. It is exactly like wearing a fishbowl and you must speak very quietly or the sound of your own voice will deafen you.

The observatory has a 24.5 inch reflecting “Cassegrain” style telescope. We were there in the middle of a sunny afternoon but to our amazement there was something in that clear blue sky that we could focus the telescope on; Venus. Venus was very bright and crescent shaped.

We welcome some new readers to our blog with this episode. They are Bluegrass enthusiasts and are learning mandolin and banjo. Dale and Sharon live in the Dales Oregon.

We are getting very close to heading out for Alaska later this week. Watch for our far north adventures. We will try to keep focused on our motto, “It’s the Journey that Counts,” and not on the cost of fuel.

Watch for us in Colville, all you relatives in that part of the state. We are headed your way. With love, Gary and Judy.