Early Planning

We met in person, organized by evite as Will mentioned, on Feb. 18. Two days later I sent out an email with the details that we discussed, including the following:

Hotel:

We will be staying Wednesday night through Sunday morning at Balmorhea State Park, home to the largest spring-fed pool in the world. It is 1.75 acres big and up to around 30 feet deep. People can scuba dive or skin dive to the bottom where the water is still very clear. It remains 76-78 degrees year round.

If you think the water might be too cold for your taste, Will has info on renting wetsuits (for skin divers/swimmers too!). He also has info on scuba diving rental info, for those of y'all who are interested.

We will be staying in a small motel in the park called San Solomon Spring Courtsin a room with two double beds and a kitchen, which have fridges and ovens but we will have to bring all the dishes, utensils, etc. Canals along the motel lead to a restored wetland where a window built below ground provides a fish-eye view of the underwater world.

Day Trips:

We will probably spend a day at Balmorhea but intend to take day trips other days. We will have two cars, so people can decide to split up into smaller groups if necessary.

Fort Davis is about 40 miles away from where we'll be staying. It is home to Lajitas Stables where we can make reservations to go horseback riding. The oldest vinifera vineyard, Blue Mountain Wineyards, in Texas is right outside town. The town also contains the Fort Davis National Historic Site, one of America's best surviving examples of an Indian Wars' frontier military post in the Southwest, which encompasses 24 buildings and over 100 ruins and foundations.

Marfa less than 60 miles away. It is home to the Marfa Lights which we will go see after sunset one day as well as the some cool art galleries. The greatest of these is the Chinati Foundation, a complex which spans 340 acres and about 12 buildings. Marfa is an up and coming center for American modern art.

McDonald Observatory is around 50 miles away. It will be offering additional star parties, solar viewings, and twilight tours while we are there for spring break.

Other places that we may visit include Big Bend National Park, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, the ghost town of Shafter, Davis Mountains State Park, Monahans Sandhills State Park, and Ste. Genevieve Wines.

See map of West Texas for more location info.

The Money

The room is $70/night plus $7 per person above double occupancy. Assuming that we have 7 people in one room, its $105/night for 4 nights which comes out to $60/person.

We estimate that we'll take two cars and that each person will spend around $40 on gas.

Other costs will include food (we are going to take ice chests in the cars with snacks and groceries), walkie talkies (because cell phone reception is spotty out there) and other expenses dealing with our day trips.

I also had people let me know for sure whether or not they wanted to go in on the hotel with us by midday Tuesday, Feb. 20. This was important because we were close to the cut off to needing more rooms and wanted to make sure we have enough room!

This does not preclude the possibility of more people joining us. Other friends are still welcome, they just have to find their own hotel rooms...