April 15. 2011

Left Alpine after breakfast at Penny's Diner. Headed north and passed quite a few burned areas.

Reached Fort Davis(town and fort). Went to the Visitors' Center and Museum, and watched a video on the history of the fort. John hiked up one of the trails, but it was very windy.(again)

Drove past Prude Ranch, one of the oldest ranches in the area. It is right in the Davis Mountains. We couldn't go to Indian Lodge at the State Park because of the fire damage. Many of the areas businesses and homes lost power when the fire went through.

Stopped at McDonald Observatory and did the self-guided tour of one of the smaller telescopes.

Finally made it out of Texas. We have been in that state two weeks. We are now in Soccoro, New Mexico. Tomorrow we will bird one of my favorite places, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Weather has cooled down. 40s overnight and high 60s to low 70s during the day.