Big Bend Vacation!

Mo Chillaxin'

Rosie Chillaxin'

West Texas,

We Heart You!

We packed up the dogs and headed out West!

As a life-long Texan, I've never been to Big Bend!!  Can you believe!?  Well that's all changed now, ya' see.  I'm a desert gypsy, a rock collector, a star gazer!  I AM a West Texas Wild Child!

We started our week off in the hip, artsy town of Marfa.  Dusty roads and tumbleweed the size of beach balls.  It's a 1-light town.  We stayed in one of Liz Lambert's renovated hotels, The Thunderbird.  It was actually a little run down...needs a bit of upkeep.  The pool was green :/  BUT...they had record players, vinyl and cruisers to rent....so that made up for the pool. 

We rode around town lovin' the isolation and the freedom!  We ran into the same 10 people...a couple of which I recognized from Austin of course!  It feels like it could be a sweet, cozy town...but I didn't get a lot of warmth from the people there.  Just sayin'.

 

So Rude!  ;)

Brad & Rosie waiting for bfast tacos!

 **If you are going to bring your pups, be aware that there aren't too many green spaces in Marfa AND the green spaces they do have, are loaded with stickers.  Ouch!

Places I recommend:

1. Moonlight Gemstones - cool, little rock shop loaded with rocks, gemstones and fossils
2. Pizza Foundation - old, converted full service gas station now serving wood fired pizzas.  yum!
3. Maiya's - Italian food - right in the heart of it all.  Amazing space and great staff.

4. Marfa Book Company - really cool book shop - specializing in all the goods - art space connected to it
5. The Get Go - natural food store
6. Frama - the coffee shop in Marfa - adjacent to Tumbleweed Laundry
7. Future Shark - from the owners of Food Shark trailer that wasn't opened when we were there :(  This is an actual restaurant space.  It's cafeteria style but super yummy and great wine selection

Ok...that's almost every place in Marfa.  Ha!  Have fun!

McDonald Observatory

A MUST SEE if you are heading west is the McDonald Observatory.  Check their website to attend a Star Party.  I think tickets are $25/pop...but all goes back to the Observatory and it's so worth it.  The party starts at around 8:45pm.  You and a couple 100 other people sit outside in a circle and listen to the director of the program talk a bit about what you can expect to see that evening.  He had this AMAZING green laser pointer that he then used to point out all the goods!  I now know how to find the North Star, that you can see Jupiter at this very instant and where to find the galaxies M81 & M82!  After about 45 minutes of oohing and aahing, he lead us to the telescopes.  The lines were long but again...so worth it.  This is a perfect excursion for the kiddos!

Star Gazers

Onward & upward...we head down to Big Bend!  Our destination is the Lajitas Golf Resort in Lajitas, TX.  Lajitas is smack dab in the middle of Big Bend State Park and Big B
end National Park.  We made our way south and then east through Presidio, TX.  The drive is amazing!!  You drive right along the Rio Grande.  Although mostly bare...the mountain drive was beautiful!  Something like the picture below but there were no clouds and hardly any water.

Big Bend

 It is hot down here in the spring!  97 degrees I think it got up to!  But it's that yummy dry heat...AND the pool at the resort was super cold.  I have nothing but amazing things to say about
Lajitas Golf Resort and Spa.  It wasn't overly posh (no room service!) but it was very nice.  Golf, spa, horseback riding, ghost town tours, gun shooting, hiking, biking, canoe trips, kayaking....they have it all!  We just wanted to relax mostly so we hiked a bit and mainly sun bathed and read by the pool. 

Lajitas Resort Pool - Big Bend

The resort's restaurant is delicious and the bar there is super low key and comfortable.  The resort also has a few small shops on the property.  I loved the store Christina's World.  Chris has all sorts of little treasures...including an amazing jewelry selection, some of which her and her partner create!  \

I fell in love twice while in West Texas.  My first love is the Ochitillo Plant.  They were in full bloom.  They reach up to the sky with their spiky, green stems and full, juicy, red blooms.  Absolutely stunning!  And...they're everywhere!

My second love I found out west was here all along!  Ms. Patti Smith.  I picked this lil' gem up at the bookstore in Marfa.  She has lived a fascinating life...always at the right place at the right time.  I'm not a huge fan of her music but her poetic sense is spell binding and so is this book!  I look forward to getting to know more of her work.

 

 

 An absolute must down in these parts is the kooky little town of Terlingua.  Be sure to grab a beer at the cavernous La Kiva and a bite at Starlight Theatre.  Take in the night on the benches in front of the Theater.  Characters a plenty!  Great people watchin'! 

Get Me Home!

 Loooong 8 hour trip home.  Pups were glad to be back!