Thousands of stars

Upon leaving the bliss of Alamogordo/White Sands and returning to Fort Bliss, we started looking at what to do next. Admittedly, sledding on White Sand is definitely hard to top, but we struck gold as we sought a destination roughly 200 miles from Fort Bliss, in the form of Fort Davis, TX and the McDonald Observatory. BINGO!

We found a private RV park there, and ordered tickets for a Star Party. It was $34 for the five of us (B was free) and I would argue that it was the most valuable investment we've made so far on this trip. We would have loved to attend the Twilight Program as well, but it was sold out. I think in retrospect, with our group it was probably for the best that we didn't do both, although K would have LOVED it, that would have been a very long night of having to be relatively still and quiet for the two younger kiddos, so the Star Party was perfect for us. 

We listed to a brief (20 ish minutes?) discussion of constellations while allowing our eyes to adjust to night vision and then we were able to gaze through several huge telescopes and several smaller but equally amazing telescopes, seeing close ups of Jupiter, the moon, Orion's nebula and the Pleiades as well as a few other star clusters. The kids loved it all, and I honestly haven't been to such an amazing telescope park in my life, so it was truly a once in a lifetime kind of place to go. The only time(s) I remember seeing so many stars in one place, was out to sea, back in the old Sammy G Navy days. The only down side, was finding our way back down from the Observatory, in the very dark that provides such great star gazing, to town and the RV park.

Beautiful observatory

The park we had originally made reservations for... well, yeah, we didn't stay at the Fort Davis Inn and RV Park (trees low enough they would have hit the roof, and tight, VERY tight spots), instead opting for MacMillans, where the gentleman on the phone was very polite and the camp host was incredibly helpful and their set up was a little easier for me to park, drive and settle in. The only down side was the turn to get into their property at night was a little hard to see, but I realized right when I passed it that I had made an error, and I flipped a U on that dark road and got back to the park, carried the three younger kiddos in and passed out.

This morning found us on the road across Texas, winding up in San Angelo at Goodfellow AFB and their RV park. Just a note, in case you're ever wondering, when you get onto a small highway in Texas and your GPS says "stay on the road for 144 miles," Turn around. Fast. Find another route. Any route. That was the most brutal day of driving to date, and we only drove about 250 miles.

I will say, this park is lovely, located on a lake, with access to a marina (if only I had "the" boating license, we could rent a boat for a day) and a playground that the kids are in love with, along with a beautiful sunset. In all, the perfect end to a long day. Until the winds kicked up and it became a kind of scary night. Just now, I pulled the slide in, dropped the antenna and double checked that I've battened down all of the doors and windows. I wish I could get the kids bikes into the car, but honestly, right now, I don't feel like it is a good idea to be out in this weather.  Could be a bumpy night tonight!

The amazing park across the parking lot

Red sky at night...