Moonlight Walk
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (128831)
Gainesville, Florida
May 14, 2016 6:02pm CST
There's a pretty cool event happening tonight at our local botanical gardens (Kanapaha Botanical Gardens) under the light of the first quarter moon. Kanapaha's Moonlight Walk almost feels like a magical experience, where there will be hundreds of twinkle lights, lanterns, glow sticks, and approximately 1500 luminaries along a 1.25 mile (2 km) walkway. The entire botanical gardens (62 acres) comes alive tonight with so much fun activities, all under the light of the beautiful moon. There will also be live bands, food, and refreshments. Attendees bring out blankets or lawn chairs and sit and enjoy the music, or stroll the award-winning gardens or one of the largest bamboo forests in the United States. The Alachua Astronomy Club will be out with telescopes to view the cosmos. During the event last year, I was able to view in close detail the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter, and the craters of the moon, and I can't wait to see what the astronomy club has in store for us tonight!
Do you have any great outdoor activities happening in your community tonight?
9 people like this
7 responses
@moffittjc (128831)
• Gainesville, Florida
15 May 16
Judy, I was thinking about you last night while I was laying in my hammock listening to the wonderful music of the live bands. I was wondering if this was anything like the concerts/events you put on! lol
2 people like this
@JudyEv (381837)
• Rockingham, Australia
16 May 16
@moffittjc Maybe if you narrowed an area down to one band and 100 people.... 
2 people like this
@moffittjc (128831)
• Gainesville, Florida
18 May 16
@JudyEv Okay, so this moonlight walk event was a tad bit larger than what you put on your town, but I bet the setting and concept was very similar! As I sat there and enjoyed the evening and the music, I couldn't help but think about you and your events!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128831)
• Gainesville, Florida
16 May 16
@mommaj Haha, I like that! "Almost jealous." For some reason, that made me smile this morning!
1 person likes this
@mommaj (23112)
• United States
16 May 16
@moffittjc Well, I don't like bugs and hate groups of people. Other than that, I would have been jealous, except come to think of it, I would probably fall off a hammock. I have no grace. 
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12069)
• United States
15 May 16
I don't know. It is still too cold at night for me to attend anything outside. I would rather not know what I am missing.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128831)
• Gainesville, Florida
15 May 16
We're almost the opposite...it is getting too hot to attend anything outside! lol But we had a dry cold front move through north Florida that eliminated all the humidity for the weekend, so although on the warm side, it has generally been very beautiful. Our low last night was 60, so it was perfect conditions to be outside!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128831)
• Gainesville, Florida
16 May 16
@ElizabethWallace My brother experiences that with his COPD. It's difficult for him on both ends...when it's too cold and when it's too hot. I feel for the poor guy.
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12069)
• United States
15 May 16
@moffittjc Yes, 60 is lovely, but I cannot stay outside unless the temperature is 63F or over. I took a walk yesterday morning and didn't check the temperature first. It was 61 F. When I returned, my lungs ached for a couple of hours. Asthma is the pit.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128831)
• Gainesville, Florida
15 May 16
It was an amazing event! So nice to be able to enjoy a beautiful evening under the stars with fabulous springtime weather! We have to enjoy it while we can here in Florida, because soon enough it will be too hot and humid to do anything outside! lol
@moffittjc (128831)
• Gainesville, Florida
15 May 16
It was amazing! The astronomy club brings out these gigantic telescopes that are as big as a truck, and you can see so many intricate details on the moon and planets. This year was nice because it wasn't a full moon, so it was easier to look at the craters on the moon's surface without being blinded by the glare from the light of the moon.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128831)
• Gainesville, Florida
16 May 16
@puddleglum Yeah, when it's a full moon, the light is so bright that it can damage your eyes looking through the magnifying lenses of the telescopes. Whenever we would view the full moon through the telescopes, we had to keep the telescope off-center so that you would only be viewing a small portion of the edge of the moon in order to keep the bright light from blinding you! People who have normal/regular telescopes don't have those issues, but when you're dealing with these big, fancy and powerful telescopes, it becomes an issue. Some of them have filtering lenses that can help reduce the light glare, but the ones we were looking through didn't have those lenses.
1 person likes this
@puddleglum (1380)
• United States
15 May 16
@moffittjc Wow! What an opportunity. I'd never thought about it, but I guess it would be better to look when the moon isn't full.
I should see if my area has any astronomy activities like this.
1 person likes this
