Fort Davis, TX (USA)

We've been suffering under 40C weather for about a week (with no end in sight), so we decided yesterday to get away from it - to the mountains! Started around 0800 and headed out on I-20 to the West (later changed to I-10 and TX-118). Not a bad drive (seven hours) with zero traffic and speed limit west of Odessa as high as 80 mph! Haven't been to this area of Texas since SEP 1993... Amazingly, everyone was still in good spirits when we arrived at the McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains (around 1500). We had just missed the last telescope tour, but we found some other things of interest - interactive exhibits and beautiful views of the incredibly green surroundings. Elevation was nearly 7000' above sea level - and temps were just over 30C (nice!!). Bought our tickets for the later shows and then headed towards Fort Davis (about 15 miles south). Just before the "city" limits, found the Prude Ranch - a ranch guest house. Had made reservations and found it was truly worth it! The kids had fun learning about the summer camp they run there - maybe we can do it for them in the future. Later, we drove into Fort Davis and had dinner at the Hotel Limpia restaurant. Everyone tried a delicious Texas-style meal (including catfish, BBQ, chicken fried steak, cheesy mashed potatoes, etc.). Headed back up to the Observatory at 2000 - for the "Twilight Show." The kids learned all about the job of the astronomers on the mountain and got to act out the path of planets and stars in an open-air ampitheatre. As the sun set over distant mountains, the next phase of the show ("Star Party") began. With a nifty green LASER pointer, another Observer employee pointed out the major constellations of the summer sky. We got to see planets, satellites, "milky weigh," nebulae (etc.). There were so many stars! Even when we've been to remote locations to look in the sky before (see AUG 2007), we've never seen so many! Later in the evening, we got to look through telescopes - at Saturn (looked like an olive with a toothpick through it), a globular cluster, the swan nebula and a dead star (looked like a blue cheerio, according to the kids). We left around 2300 - tired but excited by the things we had seen. Back at the Prude Ranch, we went straight to bed (with no TV, no telephone in the room and non-existant cell service it was very easy to fall asleep!).