Many familiar faces—a good fifteen of them—were already sitting outside the establishment in the evening sun, enjoying the house's culinary offerings.

At 8 p.m., we drove to the parking lot next to the dam wall and set up our equipment.

This consisted of the yellow 16-inch travel Dobsonian—which goes by several names and is now also known as the "ADAC Dob"—and my wide-field setup comprising 60/240, 80/320, and 120/600 telescopes, providing fields of view of 11°, 7°, and 4° respectively.

The site was bustling with activity, and I found myself thinking:

Many a telescope gathering organizer would be delighted to have the same array of equipment and owners present as were gathered in this parking lot tonight. More than twenty telescopes—with apertures of up to twenty-four inches—stood ready with their observers, waiting for darkness to fall.

Unfortunately, we were significantly disturbed early in the evening by several cars driving in. To make matters worse, some clueless individuals would circle the parking lot—taking a "victory lap," as it were—just to shine their headlights on the stargazers, who were standing there shielding their eyes with their hands.

Turning off the lights was always met with applause.

To our relief, these disturbances subsided as the night went on, and—surrounded by good friends and great equipment—we were able to thoroughly enjoy the magnificent starry sky.

There won't be a detailed observing report today!

People were observing everything the sky had to offer from every corner of the site. For example: the Meathook Galaxy, the Box Nebula, Jones 1, Stephan's Quintet, the Sculptor Galaxy, a beautiful Messier 74 showing spiral arms in a 16-inch telescope, the Perseus Cluster, and many, many other objects.

Things didn't quiet down at the site until around 4:30 in the morning. That’s when most people crawled into their bivouacs or cars to get some shut-eye.

We loaded up our gear at daybreak and set off for home just before 6 a.m.

It’s been 23 hours since we left, and I’m happy to be back home. Best regards from Gerd, who is now closing his eyes :))