Stonehenge Memorial is located near Goldendale, Washington State, along the North side of Columbia River. It is the exact replica of the Stonehenge in Salisbury, UK. Unlike the Stonehenge in UK, the Stonehenge in Washington State is open 24 hours everyday and tourists are allowed to go into the Stonehenge circle. The main difference is that this Stonehenge replica is made out of concrete instead of real stones.
February 28, 2025 was when the 7 planetary alignment happens. Thus we decided to venture out East to Stonehenge Memorial to have a clear viewing sky and see the planets. Stonehenge Memorial is about 2.5 hours East of Portland and we were able to get there by 5PM.
There was not a lot of cars at Stonehenge Memorial and we were able to explore around the area. We have been to the Stonehenge in UK but we were only able to look at the Stonehenge from outside. This time we were able to enter the Stonehenge and see the interior design of this magnificent structure.
By 5:30PM, we started setting up the telescope for looking at the planets. The view from the Stonehenge Memorial was astonishing as we were able to see the beauty of Columbia Gorge with the sun setting down below the horizon. It was quiet and we could only hear the cars running along the highway.
By 6PM, the sun has set below the horizon and we started to see stars in the sky. The first and the brightest one we saw was Venus. It was extremely bright. Then after 20 minutes we were able to see Jupiter right above us. Then Mars also showed up as a small red dot on the East side. We couldn't really see the other planets with our naked eyes, but we were able to capture Mercury on the photo and Saturn was too close to the horizon to spot it.
There were also 2 other people with telescope and having a blast at viewing the stars. They had a more fancy telescope than ours and showing us the stars in the sky. They mentioned that the Goldendale Observatory used to be rent out the observatory for just $12 a night. It is unfortunate that the rental is no longer available.
Although we were not able to see all the planets, we had a blast at Stonehenge Memorial. The area was wide open on a hill and the sky was as clear as it could be. We would definitely come back here again during the summer to see the Milkyway.
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