Mcdonald or Lowell Observatory???

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Hello all,

I am planning way ahead to the 2024 eclipse. My wife is not into Astronomy and can't understand why I stand in the cold looking at faint smudges. However, she did see the 2015 and 2017 eclipses and thought they were amazing. She also really enjoyed going to the Kennedy Space centre.

In 2017 we took a road trip after the eclipse through utah, arizona and nevada. She really wanted to go to area 51 because of the hype around it (which turned was a really nice scenic drive from Vegas). Because of the sight seeing and trip to Vegas I had to drive through Flagstaff and not visit the Observatory.

When we go in 2024 we are going to to hopefully see the eclipse, and will also  visit the space centre at Houston. My wife wants to see a lot of other sites but I will fit in a trip to the Observatory at Flagstaff . However, having read that you pay a large sum of money to look through the 82" at the Mcdonald Observatory I am now very  tempted to spend the extra money for a chance to look through a massive scope. I think even my wife would be impressed with the view of spiral galaxy or nebula through that. I don't think time and other plans will allow a visit to both  what do you think you would choose?

Thanks all