I would have never given Texas this much credit.

Wait!  That didn't sound like I meant it to....

We left Las Cruces, New Mexico Tuesday morning intent on making the sideways trek across Texas 90 to a little place called Alpine way down in the southwest corner of Texas.  Wick & Gwen Elder and David & Lyn Thomason have just raved about this corner of their state and its wonderful sights.  Now, I’ll tell you that on the way in, on the very flat, very straight, whole lot of nothingness Texas 90, I wouldn’t have given 2¢ for the whole place – figured it was just your typical Texan bragging but after arriving last night in our little RV park here in Alpine  we headed up the “mountain” to the McDonald Observatory.    Having failed to factor in the time difference in our latitude we made the mad dash up the mountain to arrive on time for our reservations at the “Star Party.”

I’ve really got to give it to Barry on this one because after several hours of battling Texas winds and roads he very accommodatingly hopped into the Jeep 15 minutes after arriving and lit out for the observatory knowing absolutely nothing about what I’d gotten us into this time.  Thankfully for me, it was INCREDIBLE!!  I once upon a time signed up for an astronomy class at Diablo Valley College thinking it would be an “easy” way to fulfill my science requirement but within about two minutes of class beginning I came to the horrifying awareness that ASTRONOMY = MATH. Lots and lots of big daddy type of math – well, that was it – I was out.  

Still, I intrepidly had us signed up for a “Star Party” which I really hoped wouldn’t involved any math but as it turned out it did cause there was a whole math movie in the observatory theater called the Power of Ten which involved a whole lot of math about light years and telescopes and stuff but was still pretty interesting.  We then went outside where a really funny astronomer (who could have guessed that someone with that much math in their head could even be funny) led us on a laser-guided tour of the night sky.  It was mega-dark up there and the path lighting was all done in these red lights so that we could gain our night vision - which they assured us took 45 minutes – and was hampered by a waxing gibbous moon (THAT’S THE KIND OF CRAP I KNOW NOW THAT I’VE BEEN TO STAR PARTY – and I intend to use it as often as possible in the future!!) 

Orion Nebula

I don’t know what kind of tiny little handheld laser this guy was wielding but it was sure fun to see the various constellations and their individual stars come to life under its influence.  I kept expecting to hear the theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind cued up at any minute.  

It sure made you feel small but amazingly secure when you consider that we were looking at constellations and distant stars that have been burning brightly for billions of years.  Maybe we won’t blow it all to pieces in one horrendous greenhouse gas swoosh… Probably the best part was getting to look in the telescopes.  They had a total of six set up for viewing.  Three views of that waxing gibbous moon (I told you I was going to use that as often as possible) and three more to view specific consellations including Orion’s Belt and the Orion Nebula – A-MAZ-ING!!!  Really.  Not enough words!   What an incredible universe.  

This morning we rose at the crack of 10:30 (Don't mock.  We are on vacation and hadn't factored that time change and the Gibbous Waxing Moon...)  We set out on the Southwest Texas exploration this time heading south on Texas 118 toward the Rio Grande also historically called the Rio Bravo (yet more knowledge accumulated on this trek).  

Our actual destination was Terlingua, a ghost town where original settlers mined cinnabar -- wait for it -- I get to show even more accumulated knowledge -- the ore from which mercury is extracted.  To say this area is toxic is probably the understatement of the century but it is still inhabited (yeah, I know I said it was a ghost town and it is pretty ghosty and abandoned but there are some folks still living out here and still burying their dead in this really cool cemetery that dates back to the 1850's.

I'm not really sure how to characterize this place other than to say it seems to be some kind of artist's enclave/hippy retreat/wild west survivalist kind of place that was accessed through some of the coolest geological formations we've seen so far - I mean not Joshua tree cool - but pretty darn cool.

Beyond cool right?  We drove on south and into the Big Bend Ranch State Park and then on into Lajitas where we had an incredible meal on lovely patio at the Lajitas Golf Resort which is an incredible gem of a place in what has to be the most isolated, out-of-the-way spot ever.  We spent a lovely evening on the patio watching the Red-Naped Sapsucker (a first-time sighting for us) and several Texas hummingbirds - this is a place we've committed a repeat visit.