Thanks everyone for your great suggestions. I know these objects were very bright and could be seen from almost anywhere, but I wanted to go somewhere a little darker that wasn't too far away from San Francisco and where you didn't need a permit or someone with a permit.
I ended up at Crestview Park in San Carlos per Peter McKone's suggestion. Saturn, of course, compared to Venus was very dim, but they made a cute couple. Saw a fantastic moonrise; moon huge and reddish with bands of mist going across it's face. It was quite spectacular. I've seen several moonrises like that and it always reminds me of that line from the poem "The Highwayman" -- "the moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas". Saw what I think was Jupiter sort of in the south east, and something very reddish (is Mars up these days?) rising above Berkeley/Oakland.
I shared the park with what I imagine was a rebellious teenager who sat far away from me on a playground swing smoking continuously, probably thinking about how unfair life is. I actually couldn't see him very clearly, but I kept seeing the glow fade and then flare from his cigarettes. I wanted to go over and tell him about Venus and Saturn, but I think he just wanted to sulk.
Karen
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"Back in my day, the sun was small and cold and it only came out at night, and we called it the moon."
Grandpa (Abe) Simpson
Golden State Star Party, July 11-14 2007
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http://www.goldenstatestarparty.org
California's biggest and best star party!
Received on Sat Jun 30 23:42:43 2007