Monday, March 12, 2018

Which henge was that again?

I have actually been close to Stonehenge- like the real one- but the person who was driving the car didn’t want to stop or get out.  Prickly English people...  

I know there is a car-henge somewhere.  I can’t remember the details.  But today, we went to the UTPB campus.  That’s Permian Basin- I actually knew that, but only because a student I once taught got a scholarship there.  UTPB has a replica of the original English Stonehenge.  It was worth a look, and it was pretty strange.  I don’t know what to make of it, really. Cas thought it was cool.  He thought it was interesting how they changed the arrangement just slightly so it would still work at this latitude to predict astronomical events.  

I just thought it was weird.  It’s the kind of thing that can only be imagined and constructed in a place where land is abundant.  Any sufficiently large city that is growing at any rate of speed would use the land some other way,  

Still, I love this photo: 


We were there before sundown.  We’ve had a good day one of the trip.  Between getting out of town on time, making our way to the Abeline Zoo and the strange Stonehenge copy, it was definitely interesting.  When it came time for dinner, we tried to opt for something with a little more local flavor than a Chili’s. We found a spot called Mamasita’s- I could swear it was supposed to be spelled Mamacita.  What do I know, though?  

The place was great, but we arrived at that decision after a Google search of local food. One restaurant was trashed online by someone who complained that the waitress he had was unattractive and the uniforms were not revealing enough.  I find that authentic, funny and horrible all at the same time.  I guess the guy knew what he was after, and it wasn’t fine dining.  We opted out.  We didn’t want to sit next to anyone like him.  Besides, Mamasita’s was good.  

We’re in for the night at our hotel.  Tomorrow, we go to Alpine, Texas. It’s about as close to Marfa as we’ll get, and maybe we will get a chance to see the legendary Marfa Lights.  We have reservations Wednesday for several events at the McDonald observatory, too. The whole thing is interesting, and I am with someone who is fun to explore with.  

Oh- I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it here- Cas is doing another photo album of our travels.  He posts more photos than I do.  Here’s the link: 

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