Ain’t no party like a science nerd party

We started our day with a pretty good free breakfast at our hotel, and after that, we were on to the Museum of the Big Bend at Sul Ross University.  It was a pretty good museum, and we got a lot out of it.  I specifically liked the maps, though the whole thing was pretty good.  Cas specifically was fond of the photography exhibit.  Apparently, a guy named Jim Bones has been to every beautiful place in this country, and he had a camera everywhere he went.  From a Star Trek perspective (since it is pi day, after all, and we did go to a pretty cool observatory), I would be remiss if I didn’t note that on the original series, Bones was the doctor, and he always called the captain Jim.  Jim Bones sounds like a made up name to me.  A made up name from a Trekkie.  But what do I know?

After we left the museum, we went in search of food.  We started at a grocery store to get a few things for our next bit of travel.  It’s nice to pick up fruit for a hike or some kind of chips for a road trip.  We took a moment to head to a grocery store.  The one we went to had really small pies for 79 cents, and I was almost required to purchase one for later consumption.  It is pi day, after all, and I am married to a math guy.  

From there, we went to the restaurant we had researched- the one we were sure would be open.  It was closed.  I am starting to think that the towns of Alpine and Pecos are trying to tell me and my husband something about our eating habits.  

We wandered a bit, did a quick Internet search and decided on a food truck option- Cow Dog: 

Having never eaten a Cow Dog before, I didn’t know what to expect, entirely.  The place did get really good online reviews, though, so I did expect good things.  

Mission accomplished.  Cas and I enjoyed our Cow Dogs and moved on to a park bench to eat our store-bought, tiny apple pie.  We headed in the direction of the observatory with a quick aside on the way at the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute.  It’s got a lot of really neat walking trails and botanical garden features.  We stood in their visitor center for about ten minutes before we decided that we really ought to return in the morning.  In fact, the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute figures heavily into our plan for tomorrow.  We’re going to go there after breakfast, then head to Fort Davis for lunch.  Maybe we’ll have better luck finding open restaurants in that town.  

Anyhow, after our exploratory misssion to the research institute, we made our way up the mountain to the McDonald Observatory.  We had a whole day planned.  Cas booked tickets to four different things quite some time ago, and as it turns out, all four of the things were booked solid.  Spring break- who knew? 

Oh- here’s the view from the observatory: 

We started with a solar viewing.  It was a whole presentation about solar events and phenomena.  Since the live shot was pretty dull today (apparently, the sun isn’t doing much at this time), we got to look at years worth of solar footage, all condensed down to the really interesting bits.  

After that, we had tickets to a guided tour, done by the same astronomer as we had ding the first event.  He (Tom) was a super charismatic guy- quite the ambassador for the obeservatory, and quite the interesting person.  He took us through a little classroom work before we went up a little more of the mountain and into one of the buildings that houses a very large telescope.  It was extremely cool.  The telescope is mounted on two concrete pillars that have very deep foundation in the mountain, and are in no way attached to the building.  This keeps the scope steady.  Neat thing, too.  Tom moved the dome around, and it shook the building, but the scope stayed still.  

The twilight program was a classroom lesson again, this time headed up by a man named Marc.  He was about as good with kids as I have ever seen a person be.  He talked about the night sky in a way that was kid friendly to the point of being kid-centric, but it wasn’t dumbed down or insulting to their intelligence. He was a really, really good teacher.  

The final event of the evening was a star party.  That is supposed to feature some really great telescope time, a few indoor presentations and a big spiel out in in amphitheater.  It turned out to be very cloudy and a bit cold right at the beginning of the star party this evening, so I think a lot of people chickened out.  It was cold, but the clouds cleared for a pretty good chunk of time, and we dressed in layers.  Besides, one of the things we picked up at the grocery store was a package of single-serving wine bottles.  We had those in the midst of the star party.  I’m still not sure if we were supposed to do that, but my cousin Holly calls a glass of red her “wine jacket,” and any jacket would be welcome on a night like we were having.  Cas wanted to look through telescopes, and to do so, we needed all the jackets we could get.  

Anyhow, the scientist party with all the stars went on for a while.  A lot of the parents with small kids took off early, but it’s never good to be the last one out the door, so Cas and I took off after 10 but before midnight.  It’s pretty much time to get to sleep so we can get to the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute tomorrow.  After that, it’s on to Marathon and the Gage Hotel.  Have a lovely evening, and be careful if you find yourself partying up with a bunch of science nerds.  They stay up entirely too late.