Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring - Banana Phone

I've been on the net and on the phone all day today. I found that the St. Genevieve winery changed its name to the Mesa winery, and no longer gives tours or tastings. The Starlight winery is not yet operational (many Bothans died to get you that information). I got the Blue Mountain Vineyard on the phone once, and they said they weren't open. When I called again to see if that meant forever, or today, or not the new business hours, or not this season...no one picked up! Wine trips, it seems, may be off our list of things to do.

I did however find a good route to where we're staying (Google maps is the best - true that! Double True!) and I'd like some input as to whether or not you guys and gals like it (or can think of a more time-friendly way to get there) see if this works for you. We'll have to stay on 290 for at least a good 1/2 hour outside Fredricksburg. We should really stop there for lunch or something because it's a really nice little German town.

In other news, I will edit a little later on about reservations for the art galleries (though I am sure public tours are given at 10am and 2pm for any number) and the McDonald Observatory.

EDIT:

I looked online at the Chianti Foundation (art gallery) website and this is what I found:

The Chinati Foundation is accessible by guided tour only. Tours are given every Wednesday through Sunday in two sections:

Tours of section 1 begin promptly at 10 AM and include permanent installations by John Chamberlain, Donald Judd, Ilya Kabakov, Richard Long, and David Rabinowitch.

Tours of section 2 begin promptly at 2 PM and include permanent installations by Carl Andre, Ingólfur Arnarsson, Dan Flavin, Roni Horn, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, and John Wesley, as well as the museum’s current temporary exhibition.

Please arrive slightly before the starting time of the tour you wish to take. Visitors who arrive more than ten minutes after a tour has begun will be asked to wait for the next scheduled tour.

The museum is closed on Monday and Tuesday.

Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for students and seniors, and free for Chinati members and children under twelve years of age.

So we will have to see which parts of the collection (examples are up on their website) we would like to see. I think my vote is for the 2pm tour, as it shows more artists and also shows the temporary exibitions. We could eat lunch in Marfa and then go on to the museum.

The McDonald Observatory is open for more hours over spring break, so we will have many times open to see it. The cost is a bit much and it's a travesty that they don't offer any student discounts (we help pay for it!) to admission. I think if we go in a group (>5) then we can get a "family" discount to the "star party" and if we want to see everything during the day, we'd be looking at $20 spent at the observatory alone, which would make it a rather expensive outing when compared with other things we planned to do.

I think it would be a great idea to meet up on Tuesday when everyone gets back from their trips and visits and we try to plan a somewhat solid itinerary of where we want to go, etc.


Hang up and drive!