We did a self-guided tour of the observatory site ...

We did a self-guided tour of the observatory site during the day, then a Special Viewing Night (SVN) of the 36" telescope. The site itself is fairly spread out so you will drive to the different domes, but there are informative markers throughout. Right now the enormous HET telescope is being upgraded. You can still go inside and see it, though. There are a few hiking trails around but the telescopes are the obvious draw for most people. The SVN was capped at just 10 participants plus your astronomer guide. Our evening started on time at 7:30pm, but the clouds were getting thicker. We were shuttled up to the 36" dome anyway, and everyone sat inside on folder chairs placed along the inside wall. It was cramped but not uncomfortable. Our astronomer managed to find a few objects to look through between clouds. He offered to extend the program by an hour (to 4 hours), to which we all agreed. Thankfully the clouds started to dissipate and we were able to view about a dozen objects. Unlike the larger two scopes this one still has an optical eyepiece so it was neat to step up to it each time. I was a little less than impressed with the sights, though. They weren't what I would call 'awe inspiring'. I am not an astronomer, even an amateur one, so perhaps I just couldn't appreciate what we were seeing. I suspect our guide used the powerful scope to see objects are too faint with a small backyard scope in order to impress the knowledgeable ones in our group, but too me most of them looked like regular stars. I was able to see a nebula and a star cluster, which looked neat. Overall I'm still very glad I went, and it was worth the money ($65/pp). Next time I'll try a star party for greater variety.