Hey y'all! this is a couple weeks later than I would've wanted to post, but if you get a free weekend at some point while you're in West Texas, you ought to give Ft. Davis a view.

http://www.newswest9.com/story/27465827/a-west-texas-gem-the-mcdonald-observatory

West Texas is full of stuff like this, and I hope to be able to do more stuff like this in the future.

The Davis Mountains are one of my favorite places in Texas. My mom's family are from West Texas (Ft. Stockton) and I grew up in San Angelo so I spent a whole lot of time in far West Texas. I will say the star parties at McDonald's Observatory are a blast and a great date idea. Make the trek to Balmorhea next time too if you have the chance.

Got to visit the observatory on a school field trip from Midland years ago. Incredibly dark at night. Couldn't see my hand in front of my face. Great for star gazing.

Our family visited the observatory and spent the weekend in Fort Davis a few years ago when we lived in Odessa. It was a great weekend and the star party that we attended was great. My girls (now 6 and 4) still talk about looking through the telescope and seeing Jupiter.

I suggest taking time to spend a weekend out there.