Sunspot Activity

Well I was wrong. Note the date. I'm not heading west, I'm heading north. Unbeknownst to moi, there's the McDonald observatory up ahead. I'm pulling in. The girl in the gift shop is eating Easy Mac. "Triple Cheese?" I ask. Nope. Try the triple cheese, it's so good. The woman at the entrance desk is eating pie from the little cafe here. She interrupts her pie-hole exercise to give me the update. I have to wait an hour and a half for the next show. Said show includes looking through the telescope at sun activity. Well, one does not actually look through a telescope, we, like the astronomers and assorted scientists, see what the telescope sees on a screen. How could I pass that up? She tells me how good the pie is. I tell her about my breakfast at the Eidleweiss. "Oh yes. The Eidleweiss. That's one of the few places I'll travel out to get a meal" she validates my cuisiness. Not that I needed a second opinion. I think about going back the 40 or so miles for a dinner, since the Eidleweiss food was tops and since the Eidleweiss also brews beer. The entrance desk woman did ask if I'd had a beer or two down in Alpine. Nope, no beer with breakfast today. Well, I get my MacBook from the Eskapay and go to the cafe. Surpise: I get internet access up here in the Davis Mtns. What's the soup of the day? "No soup today" the cook says. "It's cloudy enough for soup but I'm afraid to make a pot and then have to dump it of no one orders it." Then she adds: "My husband likes soup too." Anyday can be soup day, I offer my stance on the soup issue. I settle for some chili -- no beans -- and log on while I await sunspot activity. This area of West Texas is a splendid comingling of Europe and Texas. Nothing could be finer. Too bad I don't have my card reader in my bag or I'd upload some pics of the road from Alpine to McDonald. Will you settle for this one of me back in the Chisos on Saturday? Look at that happy face. Okay, gotta run, the show's about to begin.