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| The Harlan J. Smith Telescope, McDonald Observatory |
A relatively short drive today to Davis Mountain State Park. I'm in site 12, a full hookup site, including cable, (when I made the reservation there were no Electric & Water sites left - I ended up paying $5.00 extra for a sewer hookup I didn't use), Total cost $31.00, including a $6.00 park entry fee. A nice site, although the picnic table is a little too far from the trailer for ease of use.
After setting up, I drove to the top of the park on Skyline Drive. Took a few photos, then decided to get my astronomy fix by going to the McDonald Observatory, about 15 miles from the campground. I took the Daytime Pass tour ($8.00 senior price) which included a solar viewing session & a tour of two of their telescopes. A well organized, informative tour well worth the money. I had to take two somewhat unrelated photos - the biggest tank of Nitrogen I've seen (we used it to cool fog for use on stage) and a sample air caster. They use them to turn the entire many ton telescope - we have used them to move stage scenery, just a bit lighter! Lots of photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.
After that it was back to the campground & dinner - a grilled chicken patty, chips & snap peas.
By the way, if I disappear for awhile it is because I will have no internet connections. While tomorrow looks OK, after that I'll be heading into Big Bend National park where phone & hotspot coverage is unavailable. I'll post pages if I find a WiFi connection.
Until tomorrow -
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