davis mountains state park
 
 
Many of my friends tell me I'm crazy... but I don't think there is a more beautiful place on Earth than this part of Texas. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

It really does look alot like Mars...

 
Out in the middle of just about nowhere is Indian Lodge, a hotel built in the 1930's by the CCC, which I believe was one of Roosevelt's "put 'em to work" programs created to get the country out of the Depression. It's modeled after an adobe pueblo, filled with hand-made rustic style furniture. Altogether completely charming.
 
 
Part of my honeymoon was spent here...
 
 
...with my authentic Tex-Mex bride, who I kept referring to as "The Girl of the Golden West", after the opera by Giacomo Puccini. 
 
 

Far away in the background, the domes of the McDonald Observatory are visible. The Davis Mountains have the darkest night skies in the continental U.S., and until 1997 the Texas Star Party was held near here each May, a gathering of thousands of amateur astronomers such as myself.
 
 
The dome at the top of Mt. Locke, altitude 6,793 ft., is the Otto Struve 82-inch reflector. As a young boy, my parents indulged my interest in astronomy by driving me all the way out here on vacation so I could look through this scope.
The other dome in the picture on the left, which is shown close-up in the picture on the right, is the 107-inch Harlan J. Smith reflector. As a much older boy, the "Girl of the Golden West" similarly indulged me by coming out here on our honeymoon so that I could see this telescope. Baby, ain't you good to me!
On nearby Mt. Fowlkes now stands the Hobby-Eberle telescope, a new and radical design for a telescope. It became operational in 1997. To visit the McDonald Observatory official web page, click HERE.

But the REAL reason we chose this place to begin our honeymoon is...
...the most romantic and beautiful sunsets are here.

All text and photographs1997, Randal P. Dean
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