Friday/Saturday 22/23 October

Friday 22^nd October Saturday 23rd

Left Chisos Lodge by  9 for 150 Mile journey to the Davis Mountains NW. Only saw about a dozen cars on the way to Alpine, 100 miles on and our fuel and coffee stop. Arrived at Fort Davis  by Noon  in time to send our first package of books back to the girls, also sent some cards to the school. On to The McDonald Observatory to catch their afternoon tour. Dramatic approach to the visitor centre with 3 big telescopes on top of the mountains and smaller ones lower down. Had picnic in the car after getting tickets then saw a presentation in the Theatre. Introduction to spectography, without which the astronomers would have no knowledge of the sky. Interesting lecture then a tour of the telescopes.  First and largest structure was the 107 inch lens  telescope, built in the 60’s and the 3^rd largest in the world at the time. We were shown how to move the scope and then rotate the dome to align the opening. The pictures taken and work done classifying stars is amazing. We then moved to the most modern, the Hobby Eberly with the largest telescope mirror in the world. The structure is so simple, with the size of the mirror cutting out the need for a traditional scope. A fascinating tour which opened up whole new areas of knowledge to us both! Back to Indian lodge and a junior suite at a reasonable rate – we were about to find out why. No coffee maker and ended up driving 4 miles into town  despite the efforts of the check in staff to give us hot water for our tea bags! Restaurant has no alcohol, so no glass of wine with our adequate but diner style meal. This place is supposed to be the gem of the park service accommodation! The best was to come – disturbing noise from the room above, every word could be heard and there were a lot of people up there. The footsteps echoed and creaked, magnified by the sound box of the room. We were so tired – but the party above started watching a ball game, cheering it on and enjoying themselves, not in a raucous way just people enjoying a holiday, but the noise in our room! I ended up sleeping in the wardrobe closet next door on cushions from the settee and Vincent fell asleep, finally with exhaustion. They were all up by 7.30 but at least the restaurant did not charge for hot water for the tea. When we went to leave a day early the woman at the desk was horrified. We should have been told that there was no sound insulation at that, older end of the building and they are constantly having complaints. We were given another, more modern room and decided to stay as planned. Both tired we went into town to buy a picnic lunch then set off on a 5 mile trail in the hills. Relaxing late afternoon, tex mex meal in the diner and we know we shall sleep well tonight!