Don't Mess with Texas!
National Park Roadtrip – Days 33 – 38 – Marfa – Big Bend National Park – Odessa
The interstate from Las Cruces through West Texas is a long, boring one. Make sure to arm yourself with good conversation, a good book, or some upbeat country music. We went with the latter option. Some people are surprised that we like country music, but the whole truth is that we like ALL music. We listen to everything from gangster rap to southern rock to 80s hair bands to soul to jazz to alternative to…well…everything. If we are passing through an area with decent cell service, we also love to see if Diners Drive-Ins and Dives (or other travel related food shows) has been anywhere in upcoming towns. We hit the jackpot in El Paso where Chico’s Tacos is located. It’s a small chain that serves rolled beef tacos in red sauce. They look absolutely terrible but they are a-maz-ing. We don’t eat beef because it doesn’t sit well with either of us, but when we have a glowing shout out about something like Chef Aarón Sanchez on “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”, we make sacrifices. Do not be fooled, this is NOT fancy and this place has a questionable cleanliness factor. However, we were not disappointed and you won’t be either. Unless you don’t like good things. Then you’re just screwed. You should go to McDonald’s or Subway where the boring and unadventurous go to die.
Our next spot was Valentine, Texas where Prada Marfa, a permanent and large format art installation, was constructed to look like an actual Prada store. We took the obligatory pictures in front of it and happened to arrive there at the same time as a Cruise America RV. About 10 or so people rolled out of that thing chatting and laughing. “Hey y’all, we drove 30 minutes outta our way just to get herrrr.” “Oh, y’all are driving to Marfa?” “That’s where weeeeeeeeee’re staying.” “You all are on a NATIONAL PARK ROAD TRIP.” “Wow!” “In that thing?” (Pointing to the trailer). “And y’all are going to Big Bend?” “So are weeeeeee!” I could go on and on and on about the questions we were asked by this group that I’ll now refer to as “The Houstonite Tornado”. They were so happy and loud and nice and like a tornado of y’all’s! G and I got back in the car, exhaled, and headed to Marfa.
Dogs at Prada Marfa
Donald Judd was a New York artist that moved to Marfa in the 70s. He specialized in large scale artwork and acquired some land on the edge of town to put it on, now known as The Chinati Foundation. These days, Marfa has many artsy hippy stuff to do and over the years has grown into a strong “art culture” tourist trap as well. We managed to still find some gruff and dirt, but for the most part it’s pretty scrubbed clean, with a lot of free flowing, hipsterific types (I live in Portland, I can say that).
Some of the highlights were the The Lost Horse Saloon where we both had our first Micheladas. I’m clearly not an expert, but these were awesome! They were an especially great thirst quencher during our bike ride to town for dinner at Stellina. After hearing we were staying at the Tumble In (great little RV Park on the edge of town), one of the waiters had mentioned he thought there was a back way where we could ride our bikes back. Awesome! After dinner, though, we kept thinking about the Micheladas at the Lost Horse…so we ended up going back. We just couldn’t resist! We locked up our bikes outside and noticed that there was a Cruise America RV parked outside, but those things are everywhere, right?!?! Not 2 seconds later, “Hey y’all!! I know YOUUUUUUUUUU!” The Houstonite Tornado enveloped us for about 20 minutes, bought our round of drinks, and left as quick as they came. On the way home we took the back route the waiter had mentioned, but it was definitely where our good luck ran out. We spent the next morning pulling hundreds of tumbleweed stickers out of our four flat tires. But, the morning took a giant swing up when we stopped at Marfa Burrito on the way out of town. These burritos are homemade to order by the ladies by the counter to and they are absolutely the best, yet simple, burrito I can recall eating. Ever. We didn’t even take any pictures. #sorrynotsorry
We didn’t have reservations in Big Bend since the campgrounds within the park are first come first served. We had really wanted to stay in Chisos Basin, which would have been awesome. However, by the time we got to the park after all the thorn plucking, all the campsites were full. So, we backtracked out of the park and stayed in Terlingua at Big Bend Resorts. The bathrooms are awful, but it had availability, with nice big trees, and a level spot. There is also an amazing small town grocery store right down the road called Cottonwood that will have everything you need and then some! With the time we gained by not going all the way into the park to camp, I had some time to make Mushroom Risotto with grilled sausages for dinner. As I’m cutting up mushrooms I hear, “ls that them?”, “No, can’t be…oh wait - it IZZZZZZZ them.” Yup. The Houstonite Tornado struck Big Bend National Park without warning on a calm, quiet Thursday afternoon. The park never knew what hit them.
The following morning we drove back into the park and took an immediate right onto Old Maverick Road. This is a dirt road that is a little hairy in spots. Off-road vehicles are an option, but we did it just fine in our AWD, though got some interesting looks from others on the road! We hiked Santa Elena Canyon, which was absolutely spectacular. The Rio Grande River is a beautiful river, but is made even more beautiful by the stunning sheer rock cliffs on either side of Santa Elena Canyon. There were a million wildflowers blooming all along the trail and what I think are Mesquite trees blooming in the parking lot. To us, this trail is a “must do” in Big Bend.
Not to get all political here, but the idea that a giant wall between Mexico and the US was a major factor in getting Trump elected is insane. Though I respect all opinions, even if you’re wrong. (Wink) G and I had a few laughs on the trail while telling people that we were part of the survey team for the wall. Honestly, this was all in good fun and considering we were in a red state, every single person belly laughed and agreed how ridiculous it is. This is the terrible, awful border of Mexico and the US:
Both sides of the border are National Parks! Super ugly too. We wanted you to visualize what it would look like with a wall going down the MIDDLE of the Rio Grande, so here is another picture, for reference, of course:
What a shame how the view will change from both sides.
I don’t want to alienate anyone here, so you have to know I am enormously sarcastic. Please don’t get your feelings hurt. He’s a joke. Uhhh, I mean it’s a joke! Really.
Afterward, we drove to the visitor center at Panther Junction and then went to the Hot Springs. We had every intention of getting in, but when we walked up G said no way. Too many people. Oh well, at least we got to see some petroglyphs along the short trail. As we pulled out of the curvy and tiny Hot Springs road and onto the main park road, The Houstonite Tornado’s Cruise America RV was getting ready to pull into the Hot Springs. We waved, but they apparently didn’t see us. We drove through the campground at Rio Grande Village, just to see it, grabbed an ice cream to share at the store and headed back to Terlingua. Our RV neighbors recommended the Starlight Theatre for drinks, food, and sunset. We went in the late afternoon for margaritas, but already had dinner plans so didn’t get a chance to try the food. There is a great shop next door that has a little bit of everything and it’s worth a look, even if you don’t need anything.
We made bowls of Chili with Green Chili Cheesy Cornbread for dinner along with banana bread for dessert, all over a charcoal fire. We constructed an oven out of an aluminum roasting pan using the cast iron skillet for the vessel. It burnt on the bottom, but was otherwise awesome! The banana bread turned out perfect. I think, with some practice, we’ll be popping out cornbread in the skillet with no burnt bits in no time! With full bellies and our hands wrapped around some beers, we walked over to the Houstonite Tornado and had a good ole’ time until way after our bedtime. In the morning the Tornado left early for home so G texted them saying, “Woke up with a Texas sized hangover this morning, which is about half the size of an Alaska sized hangover.”
Chili was great! Too bad we forgot the beans!!!
We drove up to Chisos Basin and it was just as beautiful as we thought it would be. I had made a few sandwiches for lunch, so we enjoyed those on the picnic benches overlooking the basin. The road is fairly curvy, and they don’t recommend travel trailers longer than 20 or RVs longer than 24 feet. If you fall under these measurements, I would highly recommend camping at Chisos. The weather was perfect in early March and not too busy yet from Spring Breakers. We also stopped by the brand new Fossil Exhibit. I hadn’t read too much about it, but just so you know, it’s all outside and the fossils are replicas. They are still pretty cool, but don’t drive out of your way to go there, unless you have kids or just really love fossils.
My cousin, who is closest in age to me, lives in Odessa, Texas so we headed there from Big Bend. I wouldn’t recommend going there for a visit, but we have enjoyed 2 visits there because we get to hang out with family, and sometimes that’s all you need out of a vacation. It was this cousin who took us to Carlsbad Caverns National Park last year where the idea for this crazy trip came up. This same cousin was friends with G through photography school at Brooks Institute, and when G started his company a million years ago, he asked my cousin if he had any interest and he did, so photo magic ensued. Then my cousin introduced G to me, I made him lasagna cupcakes the first night we met and Camp Buy Me Love magic ensued!
