In mid-June I had a work trip to far west Texas to host a conference bringing people together to discuss ponderosa pines and what we can do to help save these majestic trees. Earlier this year a
short video was released to let the public know what is going on to restore the ponderosas in the sky islands of Texas. Monday morning we hit the road for the 400mi (ish) drive to Alpine, TX and made it to the welcome mixer.
The conference was at Sul Ross State University on Tuesday and Wednesday. After the event Tuesday, a few of the attendees hiked up the hill behind the school to check out the famous desk with a view.
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| rainbow in the distance |
On Thursday we had our field day at the Nature Conservancy's Davis Mountains Preserve where I finally got to see the ponderosa pines TFS is studying!
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| Mt Livermore |
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| core sample of a juniper |
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| champion seedling |
On Friday S and I headed to Fort Davis for the weekend since we were out that way. I have always wanted to visit the
McDonald Observatory. We took a daytime tour which was awesome. The guide showed us the sun [using a special filter] and two of the very large telescopes. So glad someone mentioned this tour to us because for some reason I thought the star party was at one of the giant telescopes.
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| video of the telescope moving |
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| example of one of the hexagonal mirrors |
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| heading back to Ft Davis |
The star party later that night was at an amphitheater near the visitor center. A gentleman took us on a constellation tour and then we were able to look through many telescopes set out pointed at things such as Jupiter, Saturn, and other neat star clusters and stars. Make sure to get tickets as star parties sell out. And people, is it hard
not to aim your headlights at the telescopes as you leave?! This messes up the other's night vision and happened like 10 times.
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| telescopes at twilight |
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| one of the telescopes at the star party |
We stayed at The Veranda Inn in Ft Davis. Saturday morning I took a short walk around the main part of town.
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| main stretch of town |
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| Jeff Davis County Courthouse |
The first big outing of the day was to see the
Fort Davis National Historic Site, where I added a stamp to our NPS passport book. The site has some interesting history. It was incredibly hot that weekend. Reached 104 so our plans to hike at the state park evaporated.
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| cottonwood tree record |
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| barracks |
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| hospital |
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| ice cream caboose after walking at the fort |
After walking around the park checking out some of the sites that have been restored, we took a scenic loop drive through the Davis Mountains. We decided to stop by Marfa since we were so close.
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| Presidio County Courthouse |
Back to Ft Davis we went to check out the viewpoints on the Skyline drive at
Davis Mountains State Park. The heat kept us close to the car, but it was still a pretty view.
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| CCC building |
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| cactus "people" |
That night we checked out the Blue Mountain Bistro for dinner and then watched
Giant, which is set in west Texas and was James Dean's last movie. On Sunday we had a long drive back home, so we grabbed a famous milkshake from the Ft Davis Drugstore as a road snack. The drive is not that bad for being so far. You cruise down the interstate rather than the frustration of being bumper to bumper on I-35. Had a quick stop in Fredericksburg at Barons Creek Vineyards (meh). We won a hedge trimmer, um thanks?, at their Father's Day raffle. Fun work trip where we got to play too :)
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