Details

Mallard Lodge can comfortably accommodate 35 people overnight; sleeping rooms and bunks are dormitory style with common facilities. We can accommodate ladies and gentlemen due to the multi-floor and multi-room layout. Please be aware this is a hunting lodge – not the Hilton. You will need a sleeping bag and your own bath accessories. Accommodations are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Breakfast is available at the nearby Smyrna Diner. All other meals, as well as coffee, tea, and sodas, will be provided by Delmarva Star Gazers.

Mallard Lodge is located in the coastal marsh east of Smyrna. It was originally a waterfowl hunting lodge and is now a State run Aquatic Education Center. It borders the Woodland Beach Wildlife Area and Bombay Hook Refuge. This is a prime area for Atlantic flyway migratory waterfowl - hundreds of thousands of Canada and snow geese winter here each year. Click HERE to go to the Mallard Lodge-Fish & Wildlife website

Other activities will include:
--bring your favorite mirror for testing and evaluation
--demonstrations (such as making pitch laps, mirror cells, spiders, finder scope brackets, mirror test stands, foucault testers, couder masks, etc)
--swap meets
--using the Star Gazers’ Meade 10” LX200 – SBIG STV camera equipment
--trips to Bombay Hook Refuge to watch the daily return of feeding geese

Other local attractions:
--Dover Downs (Racing and Slots)
--Dover Air Base (C5’s and Vintage airplane museum)
--Delaware Ag Museum
--Rehoboth Beach (Tax Free shopping!!)

Registration: all mirror makers and prom scope makers are asked to register by Dec 1, 2001, to provide sufficient lead time for ordering supplies. Full payment must accompany the registration. There will be no refunds but substitutions are O.K.

Other attendees may register by January 15, 2002. However, we suggest you register early because Mallard Lodge can accommodate only about 50 people.

This should be a wonderful early Spring-time weekend in a very interesting environment and in the company of amateur astronomers learning how to "push glass".

Some more photos of the Mallard Lodge