McDonald Observatory 2018 Visit

We visited McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis on our trip to Big Bend National Park -  where we would work for the Summer.  After leaving Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, we camped at Davis Mountains State Park for the weekend and had Sunday to visit the observatory.

Below is a view towards McDonald Observatory from highway TX-118. Mt. Fowlkes is on the left and Mt. Locke is on the right. The Hobby–Eberly Telescope dome is visible on Mt. Fowlkes and the domes of the Harlan J. Smith Telescope and Otto Struve Telescope can be seen on Mt. Locke.

By Jason Quinn - Own work, Public Domain
from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5507127

McDonald Observatory is a 15-minute drive from Davis Mountains State Park; so the State Park is the perfect place for an overnight stay when you want to visit McDonald Observatory.

Timing is everything when headed to the Observatory if you want to catch a tour, Star Party or Twilight Program. They have scheduled tours twice every day of the week and Star Parties and Twilight programs available Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday (check the tour page for exact details and times).

Entrance patio's Giant Sundial

Since we were there later in the day and on a Sunday we didn't get a tour or Star Party, however, the guide at the visitors center explained the closing times for the 3 main telescopes (5 p.m. I believe), and we were able to do the self-guided tour of the three main telescopes.  

We definitely plan on coming back for tours and a star party or two but just getting to go into the display lobby of the Hobby–Eberly Telescope (HET) was amazing. We were able to do some reading, begin to understand how it all works and view the interior of the telescope.

 Approaching HET, the 10-meter (30-foot) aperture telescope completed in 1997. After an upgrade completed in 2015, the usable optical aperature was increased to 10m. 

A three-dimensional map of our local universe.

HET is composed of 91 hexagonal segments, using a segmented mirror design.  The segments function together as a single curved mirror.  

We were also able to walk around the building containing the Otto Stuve Telescope, the first major telescope built at the McDonald Observatory. 

The wording on the Historical marker outside the Ott Stuve Telescope begins with "Original unit in a complex forming one of the great observatory centers in the world".

Entrance to Otto Stuve Telescope building

Interior shot taken by Jason Quinn [Attribution], from Wikimedia Commons

We also were able to go into the small display room of the Harlan J. Smith Telescope and read about its history. 

Interior of Harlan J. Smith Telescope during a tour, from Wikipedia. 

The views from the top of Mt. Locke were amazing and made us appreciate even more what we have here in Texas at McDonald Observatory. 

And here is the Photo Album of that the visit to McDonald Observatory.

Baxter State Park, Mount Katahdin and Google Photos

I don't know if anyone likes Google Photos more than I do.  I'm always creating new Albums and finding new faces in People, it's distractingly fun and always leads to more interesting things to do with your photos and albums.

Baxter State Park and Mount Katahdin

Today Google Photos reminded me what we were doing 1 year ago and created this beautiful collage from that day.

At that time we were winding our way through the North Eastern United States on our 2017 East Coast trip and had just left Acadia National Park in Maine.

On the way to Katahdin Woods and Waters NM

It had already been an amazing trip, and we decided to get as close to Canada as we could and do some hiking before heading down to Lake Placid and Niagara Falls.

While trip planning at Acadia, we read about Mount Katahdin, being the end-point of the Appalachian Trail,

Baxter State Park, surrounding Mt. Katahdin and the largest state park in Maine, and

the newly-minted Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, the last National Monument established by President Obama, which boarders Baxter State Park.

So we decided to head to northern Maine and experience the best hiking Maine had to offer.  We chose a small private park, Katahdin Shadows campground in Medway, Maine, that had pretty good internet so Lupe could continue working online.

As it turned out Katahdin Shadows was a family-owned park and run a lot like a KOA, with lots of things happening at the pool for kids.  They had a luau the weekend we were there.  We really enjoyed our stay.

Our 3 days in the area hiking were amazing.  We got to explore beautiful hiking trails, mountains, rivers, streams, and lakes.

The views were amazing and the air wonderfully clear.

Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument

The next time we head to Acadia NP we will definitely plan a week at Baxter State Park, Mount Katahdin, and the National Monument.

We didn't get all the way up the 5267' Mountain, but we did hike a few miles of the Appalachian Trail.  Until next time!

Here's our Google Photo Album for this part of our trip.

Christmas 2016 in Denver and a wonderful 2017 Birthday

Christmas in 2016 started early for us.  We had to take the Airstream in to be fixed before our planned 2017 trips, and we knew it would be at least two weeks for the work to be completed.  We had a soft floor in front of the sink that needed to be investigated, and we believed the hot water heater was leaking under the dinette.  So, we left the Airstream in Buda, Texas at Camper Clinic II and drove to Denver for Christmas on December 17th.

2016 Christmas in Austin

But first, to wrap Christmas up in Austin, we did hit the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar, the Zilker trail of lights with Lupe's little sister and many good friends, and had early Christmas with Lupe's family.

December 2016 is also when the Green Monster got its side scratched at the Decker Lane Self Storage (which they refused to pay for).  Sad face.

'last' haircut with Farah

And, I got a beard trim, with Farah, my favorite hairdresser, and stepdaughter!!  

Thanks, Farah for taking care of me for our last year in Austin.

Randy always has lots planned for Christmas in Denver.  One thing we always do is visit the Denver christkindl market, where there are lots of magical, German gifts and surprises as well as LoDo and the 16th Street mall where there is ice skating.

Pre-Christmas festivities in Denver

So, on to Christmas in Denver after all the shopping.  As we approached the 25th, the rest of our close family from Texas arrived in Parker and we had another wonderful Christmas there.

Here's the fireplace the night before Christmas.

Sometimes it feels like we go overboard for Christmas.  As you can see in the photos there are lots of gifts.  I'd have to blame our mom, Ingrid since she was the one that always provided so many gifts around the tree.  It was never about the $$ you spent but about the thought behind the gifts.  We still do that, always getting gifts that, we hope, match what that person needs.  Here's the link to the Christmas 2016 Album showing the many gifts and good times we had on the 25th.




Since we had family in town, we decided to visit the Denver Zoo to spend time outside and give the kids some fun.  The nice cool weather was a change for those of us that live in Texas and usually have Christmas there.

Eventually, all the 'Texans' left and Lupe and I were left there in Denver waiting on the Airstream to get fixed.  I called Camper Clinic II regularly, but we knew it was the holidays and they would be slow to get the leaks fixed.  As it turned out, it wouldn't be two weeks to get it all done.  After many calls, Camper Clinic got Airstream Company involved after finding how significant the water damage was.

They found that the kitchen faucet had been leaking behind the counter onto the floor since we got the trailer.  That small drip finally started to damage all floors in the front of the RV and had soaked so much of the subfloor that they had to replace all the flooring from the dinette forward.  They had to remove the galley, the dinette, and the L-shaped couch and then replace all that subfloor.  That work wound up taking 2 months.  We finally got a call in early February 2017 that the trailer was ready!

However, the good in all this was that we got to spend a lot of time with Randy and Kenny, and we had an opportunity to explore Colorado for great outdoor adventures.  Here are some of the places we visited during that time. 

Cherry creek state park album, the Kathy Griffin show, Rocky mountain arsenal National Wildlife Refuge album, Chatfield state park, Garden of the Gods park in Colorado Springs album, and the International Snow Sculpting Competition in Breckenridge Colorado

Entrance to the International Snow Sculpting Competition  

Rocky Mountain National park + the famous Stanley hotel next to the park.

And of course, during that time I had my 2017 birthday at Linger in downtown Denver.  Who knows how old I became that year LOL but Randy and friends put on a fantastic birthday for me.