The mess of weather we found in Texas

 

It's been a wild 2 weeks for sure. We left Tucson at the end of December searching for warmer weather in Texas...many had told us that the secret source of heat came from a glowing yellow orb that hung out along the border of Texas and Mexico. We were intrigued, due in large part to having spent most of December in the cold town of Tucson and frankly, we were tired of fighting the temperature as it continued to drop. I mean, we spent some cash last spring installing solar panels on this tin-house darn it! We want to use the power it is suppose to be generating....

First stop Balmorhea State Park. Population 479...

One day in we receive the blessing of 9" of snow

 

Nice 'hot springs' pool is located here. Nope, no shining yellow orb or warmth could be found!

 

Once the roads were clear we departed for the Davis Mt State Park and Fort Davis NP, hoping that moving even 50 miles down the road would provide more Sun and heat, and they stood between us and Big Bend National Park - our original goal. Little did we know that during the second evening in the park....snow fell. Again with the cold, damp weather..

  

Davis Mt State Park

If you get to Fort Davis, stop into the Old Texas Inn to at least have a soda - they have a fabulous old-time soda fountain, stools and all. Upstairs is a small, quaint art gallery.

Old Texas Inn/Drugstore Cafe and Art Gallery

 

The park is lovely, however there is no cell phone reception (at least not with our carrier) and the park wi-fi, when working, was slow....very slow. We did venture out to see the local towns, Marfa - yes we went to see the Mystery Lights - no sighting...and we had a good "that we got 'Punk'd" moment of laughter.

  

Marfa Courthouse and Palace Theatre

 

Marfa also has a beautiful historic hotel with a nice dining room where we had a delicious meal.

     

Hotel Paisano



Filming of the movie that starred Liz Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean, "Giant" took place in Marfa and Hotel Paisano  had the privilege of hosting the cast and crew. Cool.

 

Finally the road is clear to McDonald Observatory, 16 miles from the park and on one of the highest points in Texas and still no cell phone coverage....not even extended service Texas isn't doing much to  make me fall in love, that's for sure.

   Operated by the UT/Austin this is really impressive. We've been to Kitt Peak and this tour was far more informative....we thoroughly enjoyed our 4 hours there.

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2.7 m (107") Harlan J. Smith Telescope

 

Home of the 9.2m Hobby-Eberly Telescope

 9.2m Hobby-Eberly Telescope

91 hexagon mirrors make up the 9.2m Hobby-Eberly Telescope and are aligned by computers daily.

 

West Texas has interesting history, landscape and small towns that we are really happy we were able to tour it all. But the weather truly was barely bearable...I really do wonder what I did to make the weather gods mad.

 

We are passing on Big Bend until we can determine Sun/solar equality (no electric in some parts of that park) and are heading towards Del Rio....

 

Adios amigos~