I'm in northern California,
Just a few miles north-west of Clear Lake, in an area known as Witter Springs.
I have a friend who is an astronomy nut. He has a 16" telescope with all the bells and whistles, and he built an observatory in his backyard (in Novato, CA). His wife has relatives that live in Oregon, so I wouldn't be surprised if he's planning a little trip northward.
He brought his telescope up to my place once -- Lake county has the distinction of having the clearest air in all of California. It took him a few hours to set it up and know where it was pointing, but he was finally able to get some pictures of Jupiter and several of its moons during the middle of the day. I tried to persuade him to build a small observatory on one of the mountain peaks on my property (which already has a road going up to it), then he could use WiFi from there down to my modem which is linked via satellite to the internet. In that way, he could operate his telescope located here from his home in Novato. Well, he's a hands-on kind of guy so he didn't like that idea.
