On a happier note:
I FINALLY had a chance to visit ScopeCity in San Francisco today. What a cool shop! I met Sam, Steve and Bob all who said to say hi to Rob Hawley, Mark Wagner and all you TACos and SJAAers. They seemed to have heard of just about everyone that I've viewed with.
The store was FULL of scopes, but the three that caught my eye where the giant brass 7" Clark. During the holiday I'd stopped in Flagstaff, AZ to visit the Lowell Observatory where I saw Lowell's 24" Clark. I knew instantly that it had to be a Clark because Sam's was so similar to the one at Lowell. For some reason I kept picturing Marvin the Martian peering back through the eyepiece. The second was a gorgeous Plettstone. I still have a thing for natural blonds. First time I'd seen one up close in the light. Wow. No, really. What a stunning showpiece performance scope. Finally a Parks Bino-Scope. I like that it has handlebars! You can drive the darn thing! If Parks could somehow figure a way to hook zoom lenses up to a handlebar mounted twist throttle I'd buy one.
They guys were all VERY knowledgeable and generous with their time especially Steve and Bob, who gave me a good understanding of Televue eyepieces. Sam stepped out and shook my hand several times and gave me a discount once I got the secret handshake correct. He's a good coach! ; )
It would take far to much time to write about all the stuff there. Suffice to say if it's astronomy related they probably have it. I'll definitely visit again.
Greg Claytor
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Received on Fri Feb 01 16:29:04 2008