Decided to surprise Nigel today with a trip to the top of the University of Texas Tower. We were lucky enough to get a good tour guide this time who knew all the answers to the questions everybody had.  Though the guides were trying to ignore it, questions inevitably turned to Charles Whitman and the massacre that occurred up here in the summer of 1966.   She pointed out the bullet holes in the granite where people were shooting at Whitman from the ground.

I remember being in a class a few years ago next to the tower when the Columbine massacre happened and a chirpy girl in our class blurted "thank goodness nothing like that could happen here". 

The view is gorgeous.  From far away sometimes it seems like the tower isn't actually very tall, but then you go up... nope, it's really tall.

The best time to go up is on the last tour when you can watch the sun set.