Look around you; look long through the bright air. The images of West Texas paint themselves on your mind and heart until you see the grand shapes even when you close your eyes. Terse mountains erupt out of flatlands. Clouds, fired by light and ripped by wind, streak across an improbably blue sky. The setting sun spotlights the desert's unyielding contours, lending texture and drama to every wash, every rise, every angle of sculpted landscape.

Presented with such scenery, some see simply profound emptiness. Others sense peace and promise, and they imagine lives here. That's why you encounter dreamers when you visit towns such as Fort Davis or Alpine or Marfa. Enchanted by the spare beauty and the mighty stillness of the Chihuahuan Desert, they have come to graft new lives onto the Old West.

Near the Stars
Back in the 1920s, William Johnson McDonald dreamed of an observatory for The University of Texas. The facility near Fort Davis that bears his name has grown beyond anything he could ever have envisioned. Multiple telescopes rise like white mosques on the hilltops of Mount Locke and Mount Fowlkes. Each evening astronomers use them to peer deep into the heavens.

A modern visitors center nestles in a valley below the telescopes. It lifts amateur stargazing to a fascinating level of technology. Daily, people stop by for tours, and they sit inside the theater and watch images of the sun, beamed real time on a screen. "It's a live sky tour in our theater--looking at live images from a telescope," says Marc Wetzel, education coordinator. They do the same during the organized Star Parties, held three nights a week. "It's an excellent opportunity for people to see and learn about the things that populate our galaxy and those around us," he adds.

Marc first came to the observatory from The University of Texas at Arlington in 1989. His love of stargazing made him a solid candidate for a job as a seasonal tour guide. He planned to work for the summer, but somehow he never left. "I only intended on being here for three months,"he says. "I didn't plan on meeting my wife on a tour I gave, but here I am raising a family and living." He pauses, then adds, "I'm very fortunate to live in West Texas. I wouldn't trade this for anything at all."

Kelly and Zol Owens literally hang their hats in Fort Davis. Kelly, once a rescue medic in Austin, came out in 1994. "I just needed to take a breather," she recalls. "I really didn't plan on staying." Then she met and married Zol, a tall, mustachioed cowboy, and now the two run Limpia Creek Hats. Since they took over the custom-hat shop in 2000, they've worked to grow their business on North State Street, stocking a nifty variety of clothes and gift items.

Well-crafted hats, though, are their focus. Carefully styled and individually fitted, Limpia Creek's hats are earning a solid reputation. On any workday, you'll find ranchers and tourists stepping in to place orders. Along the walls, hats that once belonged to local cowboys hang on display. You can almost trace the area's history in the collection of styles and brims stained with the dust of hard work. It's a legacy to which Kelly and Zol have already begun to add.

On the Range
There may be no grander legacy in these parts than the Kokernot o6 Ranch. It sprawls across more than 140,000 acres of grassland and mountains around Fort Davis and Alpine. The Lacy family oversees it nowadays, and they tend their inheritance with the same devotion their ancestors did. Diane and Chris Lacy manage the operation for the family, and over the years, Diane has documented ranch life with her award-winning photographs. "I mainly do this to tell the story of what we're about," she explains. "That's what compels me. I want to give the viewer the experience. I want people to be in the pen with us, to be on the ride."

Chris and Diane's son, Lance, and daughter-in-law, Brandee, are an integral part of this family concern. They met while students at Baylor University. "But I missed it out here," says Lance, the seventh generation of this ranching family. "I couldn't wait to get back." Brandee feels the same. "I love it," she declares. "I wouldn't want to live anywhere else."

Brandee has hit upon a way to share what they love with those who want to learn more of their way of life. She leads small tours to watch while cowboys work the cattle on horseback. "We're not aiming for any kind of dude experience," she declares. "It's up close and personal with the old ways."

She also takes folks out in dune buggies for birding and photography trips, carrying them deep inside the ranch to land they otherwise would never see. "We look at these trips as a way to diversify," she adds. "We feel like our asset is the beauty of the land." Gazing across a landscape that rolls off toward far blue mountains, no one could disagree.

In the Eye of the Beholder
A different dream entirely resides down the road in Marfa, where the late Donald Judd transformed a defunct Army base into home for the Chinati Foundation. Traveling through West Texas by bus during the Korean War, Judd was entranced by the open spaces, the rugged and spartan scenery. In the 1970s he returned to build a place to permanently display large-scale creations of art. Now, the site annually attracts thousands of international art lovers, eager to experience the intriguing exhibits.

The word "experience" is key at Chinati. As Judd intended, you don't so much study the works as become a part of them. Dan Flavin's Untitled (Marfa Project)--housed in converted barracks--features tall, fluorescent light installations that saturate and seduce the viewer with singular geometry and color.

As much critical praise as Flavin's work justly received when it opened in 2000, the anchor of Chinati remains the untitled collection of mill aluminum works done by Judd himself. He replaced the walls and doors of two gigantic artillery sheds with glass, and throughout the two he placed, in precise rows, a series of 100 perfectly machined boxes, no two exactly alike. The result is stunning. Light and images stream in through the glass, where they bounce and bend off the edges and subtle planes of the polished metal. The art--and the experience--changes as the light shifts, changes whenever a cloud passes overhead. It's all a part of Donald Judd's work. "You can't separate the work from the building it is in or the landscape that surrounds it," muses Chinati associate director Rob Weiner. "It embraces the essential character of West Texas."

Space To Think and Create
The presence of Chinati has changed Marfa, given it a quirky edge. Nowhere is that more evident than at the Marfa Book Company. A bookstore, paired with a coffee shop, wine bar, and gallery, it sits in the heart of town on South Highland. A companionable place, it feels a bit like a library with people relaxing in inviting chairs as they leaf through books from a pleasingly diverse collection. Other folks come in to log on and surf the Internet as they sip flavored lattes. The place would be just as at home in a tony Houston suburb.

Louis Dobay should know. A mild-mannered, soft-spoken fellow, he moved here from Houston to manage the store for owners Tim Crowley and his wife, Lynn Goode Crowley. "I opened this store for them. It was scary, the idea of moving to a small town," he admits. But, nearly six years later, he also adds, "I love it. There's something about the atmosphere out here, the people. You've got the space to think and live."

Keri Artzt echoes those sentiments. She runs the Kiowa Gallery on Holland Avenue in Alpine. Keri and her son came out to West Texas for a visit more than a decade ago. Deciding to stay, she studied art at Sul Ross State University and worked at a frame shop. When the opportunity arose, she bought the store and turned it into a gallery specializing in the art of the Big Bend.

"People come out here and love the Big Bend so much that they want to take a little piece of it home with them," she explains. "And there are so many talented people in this area that we wanted to concentrate on local art." To that end, she seeks out one-of-a-kind pieces from area artists. The result is a colorful, eclectic assortment of work in almost every medium, from pieces of jewelry to stylized watercolors and traditional Western-themed oil paintings. The variety gives the shop a certain personality and humor, but it also clearly reflects Keri's personal passion for West Texas.

"It's such a vast area that you just want to be creative," she says. "You have the magical starry nights, huge open ranges, dramatic sunsets. We don't have a rush hour in Alpine," she quips. "We've got a rush minute. I came out here just to stay for a little while. That was 13 years ago, and I have no intention of leaving. It just gets in your blood."

An Oasis on the Border
Travelers who have driven the 100-plus miles south from Alpine or Marfa could be forgiven for rubbing their eyes when they catch a first glimpse of Lajitas. Stretching along the banks of the Rio Grande River, this young resort draws much of its end-of-the-world character from its location, hard by the Mexican border. The dream of Austin developer Steve Smith, it has been dubbed "The Ultimate Hideout" and described as a "boutique resort." Whatever you call it, the resort boasts the kinds of amenities that seem unlikely this far from mainstream vacation spots.

For starters, its 92 rooms are large and well-appointed. Next, a manicured 19-hole golf course winds its way between mesas and the river. A picturesque track, the 7,000-plus-yard Ambush offers everything most players can handle, plus an extra "international" par 1. No. 11A, nicknamed Once, gives dreaming duffers a chance to blast an iron over the Rio Grande into Mexico.

The resort's full-service Agavita Spa welcomes guests who just want to be pampered after a horseback ride, a mountain-biking trek, or a few sets of tennis. River rafting, birding, and fossil tours are also available. The resort offers four dining options, including Ocotillo, a Santa Fe-looking restaurant that serves dishes from the menus of coproprietor and renowned Austin chef Jeff Blank.

"Lajitas is a little exotic without having to leave the U.S. borders," says Daniel Hostettler, president and managing director. "This place is for people who want to get away from the fast pace of city life. It takes a little effort to get here, but once you're here, there's so much to do. You can do as little or as much as you want, and there's plenty to explore."

Big Bend National Park ranks at the top of that to-explore list, especially this time of year. Spring softens the bare, craggy earth in astounding ways. The Chisos Mountains, towering centerpiece of the park, don a mantle of green. Brilliant red and yellow blooms burst forth from sharp-thorned cactus. The scraggly branches of ocotillo blossom with delicate scarlet buds. Wildflowers carpet patches of the roadsides, and the unmistakable aroma of bluebonnets, sweet as a fine memory, linger on the breezes.

Such spontaneous color in this wide and rugged land is nothing short of dazzling. It spawns new regard for the desert with all its possibilities, touching the willing soul and igniting in many the ache to dream. That's the appeal, the enduring magic of West Texas.