We have just returned from a 2-week adventure out to Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas. The area of this park include the Chisos mountain range and a large swath of the Chihuahuan Desert. At night the sky was magnificent including shooting stars that took my breath away. Bob captured many photos, and I am looking forward to creating new paintings inspired from the desert beauty!
The absolute best thing we did was the tour of the McDonald Observatory. It started with a talk by one of the scientists there about the sun and stars and space in general, and then he took us on a tour of both the giant telescopes. With the older one, we got to see how it moves and how they open the dome for observation. Nobody actually looks through the telescopes physically any more—it’s all done through computer images from the telescopes. Was just fascinating. This was probably one of the best trips we’ve ever enjoyed!
