May 02 2018

5 Reasons to visit Big Bend National Park

If you have not visited Big Bend National Park, I’m going to give you five compelling reasons to pick a date and go. These reasons drove my son and me over 600 miles across the state of Texas to experience an incredible adventure in this isolated wedge of the US. You can skip ahead to that story here.Whether you are a native, transplanted or temporary Texan, the true west still waits for you at Big Bend National Park

#1 Big Bend National Park is large and lonely.

Whether you find Big Bend National Park hauntingly beautiful or beautifully frightening depends on how enamored you are with neighbors and nearby conveniences. This isolated area about the size of Rhode Island is one of the largest, most remote, and least-visited national parks in the lower forty-eight United States. [Read more…]

Jun 03 2017

Big Bend National Park – A personal adventure

POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS- READ DISCLOSURE FOR INFO.

Go To Big Bend National Park Now!

If you’re a Texan raised on our Gulf Coast or in East Texas, and you have not visited Big Bend National Park, promise me that when you finish this blog, you’ll pick a date and go. It is that important to your Texas psyche. If you are a transplanted Texan like me, it is still a soul awakening experience, but at least I’m not at risk at having a Native Texan bumper sticker torn off my Subaru.

But first, you have a decision. To find five compelling reasons to visit Big Bend National Park as soon as click here. Or I’ll tell you about most of them in this post along with interesting, and for me, frightening adventure my son and I had at Big Bend. Lastly, you can get right to the adventure by clicking here. I give you these choices because I always love to read an unbroken and detailed narrative! So I’ve left it up to you. [Read more…]

Feb 20 2017

Alpine Texas

Alpine – living throwback to the old west

Had we stepped back in time? It felt like that as we arrived about three hours late at the one-room Amtrak station in Alpine, Texas. This was our jumping off point for the Big Bend area. It was almost midnight and a cold mist hung around the train platform. Looking across the tracks, we saw a main street from the 1890’s. Running into Clint Eastwood’s man with no name would not have surprised us.

15853630127_762b21e3a7_z Alpine Texas — Alpine Amtrak station. image by Nicolas Henderson via Flickr (CC-2.0)

There are no loudspeaker announcements on an Amtrak train from 10p to 7a. To let us know it was time to get off, the car attendant walked down the aisle between the coach seats whispering, “Alpine, next stop…Alpine, next stop. We’ll only be in Alpine a few minutes. Don’t leave the train platform if you are continuing on with us or you’ll get let behind.”

Only four people got off at Alpine

Alpine was not a busy stop. Only four of us got off. About a dozen smokers also stepped out onto the wet platform. They were grabbing their last cigarettes before the train was scheduled to get to San Antonio at 7 the next morning. It would be a long time without nicotine and the smokers were taking advantage no matter how bad the weather.

Our hotel was across the street

The town was closed up and dark except lights were on in the bar at the old Holland Hotel, located just across the street from the tracks. Fortunately, the Holland was the destination for our one night in Alpine. The clerk had left our key in an envelope waiting for us on the reception desk, so we first went up to make sure we could get into our room. The room was small but comfy – about 12×12 with an old fashioned bathroom. A king-sized bed took up most of the room and a big brown leather sofa acted as the bed’s foot-board. I opened the heavy wooden door to the closet and found pillows, blankets and sheets to make up a bed on the sofa.

15844510600_f695f47aa0_z Alpine Texas — Holland Hotel – Image by Nicolas Henderson via Flickr (CC-2.0)

Exploring the sleeping hotel

The Holland Hotel had few guests on a Thursday night. We went downstairs to the Century bar but a tired bartender said he was closing. Restless after having napped on the Sunset Limited, then suddenly awakened and thrust out into a seemingly abandoned western movie set, Shane and I wandered around the sleeping hotel. Old photographs of long passed townspeople were blown up and framed in the hallways. Three pictures were of a man dressed in jeans, cowboy hat and boots with a full-grown javelina on a leash. In one photo, the javelina walked like a well-mannered dog. In the other two photos, the man had squatted down to hug the peccary and ruffle its bristly hair

IMG_2488-e1479591435318-840x480 Alpine Texas — Pet javelina in Alpine, Tx

A lobby for deal making

The reception desk was in the middle of a gracious sitting area with lots of stuffed chairs, couches and good reading lights. There were a couple of private parlors that were used for rancher or mine owner meetings in earlier decades of the hotel’s existence.. The main sitting area opened into a courtyard with a fountain. On the desk was a stand up card advertising a dog for adoption – an “Itty Bitty Pocket Pitty” named Bella. She’d been rescued from a puppy mill and had had her ears chewed off. We hoped to meet Bella when the front desk opened up.

One person per square mile

The Holland Hotel had been a fixture in Alpine since 1912. The town has a population of almost 6,000. Alpine is downright crowded if you consider that the Big Bend area, which covers 12,000 square miles and 3 counties, only has 12,500 people. That’s about one person per square mile

640px-Big_Bend_area_map Alpine Texas — Big Bend area map – By Peter Fitzgerald, OpenStreetMap – , CC BY-SA 2.0,

Alpine – from a cattle campsite to center of the region

Alpine, originally called Osbourne, was a campsite for cattle herders until the early 1880’s. In 1883, the railroad needed access to nearby springs owned by the Murphy brothers. The railroad wisely helped get the settlement’s name changed to Murphyville and got access to the needed water. Six years later, residents petitioned to have the name changed to the much prettier “Alpine”.

At that time, Alpine had a dozen houses, three saloons, a hotel, rooming house and a drugstore that housed its post office. The creation of Sul Ross State Normal College in the 20’s and Big Bend National Park in the 30’s and 40’s helped it grow.

Alpine’s size protected its charm

Wikipedia wryly notes “The town was always small enough that no one insisted on tearing down old buildings to make parking lots, and it is still too small to interest big box store chains”.

640px-Holland_Avenue_and_5th_Street_Alpine_Texas_DSC_5555_ad Alpine Texas — Downtown Alpine at Holland and Fifth. By Adavyd – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,

The Holland Hotel was built during the brief mercury mining boom that also created Terlingua. It was designed by Henry Trost, the well-known regional architect who also designed the El Camino del Norte hotel we’d visited in El Paso. Over 100 years later, it was a key part of a downtown of early 20th-century buildings still occupied by family-owned retailers and restaurants.

Meeting the Pocket Pitbull at the Holland

In the morning we came down to complete our registration and get to know the hotel in daytime. Bella, the itty bitty pocket pitty was on duty behind the desk. The Big Bend area took care of it’s animals. The Holland was just the first of many places where we saw posters for adoption and people fostering abandoned dogs and cats. The Holland had successfully fostered and adopted out 17 dogs since the beginning of the year. The dogs worked behind the counter and flirted with customers of the hotel, restaurant and bar. Invariably someone fell in love with them and took them home.

IMG_2491-1-e1480354126524-600x365 Alpine Texas — Bella the Itty, Bitty Pocket Pitty

Bella had been there two months – the longest stay for a foster dog. No doubt her bulging muscles, strong jaws and lack of ears made her an acquired taste but she was loving and affectionate. The good news is that when we returned four days later, we met a family with a six year old son and a baby girl who were making a final decision on Bella. It looked like she had found a home and when we left, Bella was happily snuggling up against the baby.

Zuzu is missing

Along with “adopt a dog” posters, Alpine and all the other Big bend towns we visited also had signs begging for information about ZuZu Verk. Zuzu, a Sul Ross student, had gone missing in the early morning of October 11^th. As we walked around Alpine that morning, we passed a woman standing on the corner of highway 90 and 5^th street. She was holding a sign that said “Be a man, Robert Fabian”. Fabian was Zuzu’s off and on boyfriend, the last person to see her alive and now considered a suspect in her disappearance. Zuzu is still missing as far as we know.

IMG_2611-1080x530 Alpine Texas — ZuZu missing posters were everywhere in Big Bend area

A different rent car experience

We’d reserved a car from Alpine Car Rental to drive to Terlingua, Big Bend and Marfa. I had no physical confirmation from them. The desk clerk at the Holland wished us luck. “I think he’s only got about four cars. Hope everything is okay with your reservation.” We crossed our fingers and called Alpine Car Rental. “I’ll be right there,”he answered.

We leave it where?

Our gray Ford Focus showed up in minutes. It only took a few more to sign the paperwork and decline all insurance but the windshield/tire coverage, good to have with lots of dirt roads ahead. I’m so used to having to hassle with rent cars, that I could have hugged the guy, especially when we asked about how to return it before catching our 8:30 train on Monday night. “Just park it under that tree at the depot, put the keys in the visor and lock it up.”

Walking around Alpine

It had all happened so seamlessly that we had plenty of time to explore Alpine before we headed to Terlingua. The oldest part of Alpine was an easy four blocks long and five blocks deep running on either side of the railroad tracks. The rent car guy had suggested a couple of restaurants and things to see so we started walking east of Holland street, looking in the store fronts facing the tracks. Walking into the Texas Ranch House Too at the corner of Holland and Fifth (across from the woman with Robert Fabian shaming sign), the greeting “may I help you” was replaced with “do you have a biscuit?” Cooper the corgi met us at the door. He was a charmer and featured on the back of T-shirts throughout the store.

Here’s what they use the dogs for

shane-and-foxy Alpine Texas — Foxy, the Ocotillo shop dog in Alpine, Texas

Moseying a little farther down 5^th, we wandered into Ocotillo Enterprizes (Books, Beads and Rocks). Foxy the red terrier mix who looked vaguely foxish escorted us in. So this is what Alpine was doing with all those adopted dogs. Ocotillo was like a new age junk shop. We bought a travel book by local Scot Jim Glenndinging, a clump of sage to bless our Terlingua airstream and tree bells with an Egyptian eye motif – things small enough to take back with us on the train.

Reata – a humble precursor to the big place in Ft. Worth

cassidy Alpine Texas — Cassidy, fellow train passenger and manager of original Reata

The car rental guy highly recommended Reata for lunch and the restaurant in an old house was just down from Ocotillo. It was 11:20, before the lunch time rush and the manager sat in an empty side room. After looking at each other for a few seconds, we realized we’d been row mates on last night’s train. Cassidy was one of the four passengers to disembark at Alpine and had pointed us across the street to the Holland.

Tamales worth the trip

shane-with-tamales Alpine Texas — Tenderloin tamales at Reata in Alpine, Texas

Even stranger, I’d been in Fort worth the weekend before and had had a drink at a place called Reata in the stockyards area. The food at the Fort Worth Reata looked wonderful but we had reservations at another restaurant. All the great things we’d seen on the menu in Fort Worth were here in the original Reata. I ordered the tenderloin tamales with pecan mash and goat cheese salad with candied pecans. When my food arrived, I sent a picture of my plate back to my friends from last week’s trip along with the caption “They didn’t disappoint!”. Small world getting smaller all the time.

Where the working folks lived

We walked off lunch by crossing the railroad tracks to wooden store fronts and cantinas that had defined the laborer’s section of town in earlier times. Both sides of the tracks made up an easy to read map of how Alpine had grown and changed but not too drastically.

IMG_2514-840x480 Alpine Texas — Shed in Alpine transformed into colorful garden store

The shabby feel of this area and the different kind of businesses that were settling here felt relaxed. On our return, we picked up the “windshield tour” map available at the Holland and explored this area more thoroughly. Up on the hill was a rock building built by the CCC as a Scout Headquarters. Adobe and frame buildings lined the streets in this area as opposed to more ornate storefronts and Victorian homes.

IMG_2513-840x480 Alpine Texas — Adobe guest houses “across the tracks” in Alpine

Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church at Fifth and Gallego was in a 1941 brick building that replaced the 1902 wooden structure. Across the street, an early two-story frame hotel showed signs of an attempt to shore up sagging building. I bet there was a huge difference in the business deals that went down here and at the Holland. Another story for another time.

But not it was time to get on the road. We went back to the Holland to pick up the Ford Focus and headed east on Highway 90 and south on TX 118. We were off to meet Alice the Airstream in the Terlingua Ghost town.

Feb 06 2017

Big Bend’s River Road to Marfa and Ft. Davis

River Road – “Last True Frontier”

Shane was dozing and I was driving, savoring the quiet as we headed beyond the Big Bend National Park to Marfa and Fort Davis. We were on the River Road (Texas FM 170) and had just passed Terlingua headed towards Presidio. It was around 4:30p. It would be dark within the hour. This highway was not a good place to be after the sun sets.

National Geographic calls the Big Bend region of Texas one of the last true frontiers in the Lower 48, a landscape unique in the world. “One 1930’s resident likened it to the dark continent, perhaps for the African-style terrain and abundant wildlife.” FM-170 stretches 67-miles between Presidio and Terlingua and lives up to the borderland designation. The road snakes and dips and climbs, every so often showing you the Rio Grande River on your left. Vast open areas follow place where the road threads through narrow rock cut-thrus.

A narrow escape

Headed north, there is an early stretch of loop the loop hills before you get to the more radical curves. As empty as the River Road is, we ended up following a dually pick-up truck dwarfed by an impossibly large gooseneck camper. Think of an ant dragging a beetle. Even with that load, the truck was booking it. Suddenly, the spare tire bolted to the undercarriage of the trailer broke loose.

We were climbing a steep hill when the tire starting bouncing wildly towards us. I’d left enough room to react but I didn’t know if someone was coming up the back of the hill in the opposite direction. If we stayed in our lane, the tire would hit us, probably coming through the windshield. I served completely across the center line to let the tire bounce by, then pulled back into our lane as we crested the hill. Shane was jerked awake and I was shaking. In a random moment, our west Texas adventure could have ended very badly. Instead our narrow escape now made us feel each experience more vividly.

Not appealing to the jet set

The River Road ride returned to semblance of normal. Very occasionally, something totally out of place popped up like the Lajitas resort, a failed attempt by an Austin developer to make a high end enclave for the jet set.

Lajitas shared the same boom and bust history with Terlingua. The closing of the quicksilver mines dropped the population of Lajitas to four people. In 1977, a Houston developer started putting in a golf course, some condos, and other lodging. In 2000, another developer aimed even higher, putting in a high end resort that was out of money by 2007. Even a beer-drinking goat, Col. Clay Henry who was also mayor of Lajitas failed to rope in the swells.

In a more practical move, another group of investors bought Lajitas, cut prices in half and found some success in providing more affordable accommodations to less affluent visitors to Big Bend.

Lajitas_Texas_2014-690x400 Big Bend's River Road to Marfa and Ft. Davis — By Nicolas Henderson from Coppell, Texas (Lajitas City Limits) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Anticipating The Big Hill

Our main reason for taking the more treacherous and beautiful River Road was to drive over the Big Hill. Coming from either direction on TX-170, you see deceptively non-threatening signs warning of the Big Hill. Don’t be fooled. It is a very big and hidden hill overlooking the Santana Basin, Mexico and the Rio Grande extending to the north. How remarkable that Texas, a state addicted to hyperbole doesn’t call the Big Hill something more impressive. Or it could be Texans are just messing with out-of-state visitors.

We pulled over to pause and enjoy the view but were distracted by two young lovers who sat entangled on a rock in this lonely place. We tried to ignore them and look beyond to the river far below. They looked at us to emphasize that we had intruded on a private moment. The magic was gone for both of us… but it is still a really big hill.

Made it to Marfa

Coming into Presidio as the it became full dark, we were ready to get to Marfa. It had been another long day, and we were starting to get the traveler’s sense that is time to head towards home. When we finally got to Marfa, checked into the Hotel Paisano and went downstairs for a late dinner, Shane said, “I love you, Mom but I’m ready to be around someone else.” “I completely agree with you,” I told him. We toasted his conquest of Big Bend’s Emory Peak earlier in the day. With the long drive and the near accident, it seemed in the distant past.

1024px-Marfa_Texas_23-690x400 Big Bend's River Road to Marfa and Ft. Davis — By John Cummings (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons

The Hotel Paisano

Marfa on paper turned out to be more interesting that Marfa in person, at least in our eyes. To be fair, it was a Monday morning. Marfa had become an art/tourist destination and a major center for Minimalist art. Many shops and restaurants were closed on Mondays after the weekend rush.

The Hotel Paisano, on the other hand, was all that we expected. Started in October 1929 just days before the collapse of Wall Street and the beginning of the Great Depression, it was designed by El Paso’s Henry C. Trost. Trost was architect for university and office buildings, mansions and hotels from Marathon, Texas to Tucson, Arizona. We’d stumbled upon his work many times on this trip and overnighted in the Holland Hotel he had mapped out in Alpine.

8173195942_19448b2d8c_z Big Bend's River Road to Marfa and Ft. Davis — image by daveynin via flickr (CC 2.0)

James Dean slept here

In June of 1955, the Paisano was Warner Bros. headquarters for the filming of the classic movie, Giant. The lobby walls were filled with framed photographs of young Rock Hudson , Liz Taylor and James Dean wearing 50’s era jeans and cowboy hats. I loved the candid glimpses of the stars goofing around on the desert set between takes and talking with the locals.

A souvenir of Marfa

If you enter the hotel from Texas Street, you walk through a peaceful patio with flowing fountain on your way to the lobby. The hotel’s address, however, is on Highland Street. Entering on that street, you’ll have to maneuver through quite a few galleries and gift shops before get to the desk clerk. Not only were we on a budget, we were also very limited on how much we could bring back on the train. Any impulse purchase had to be small enough to tuck in a backpack or a purse. I exchanged a quarter and four pennies for a green plastic swizzle stick shaped like a rattlesnake . I love to stir cream into my morning coffee with whimsical swizzle sticks so this was a souvenir of Marfa that would get a lot of use.

A quiet time in Marfa

On Monday morning, we left our car at the Hotel Paisano and walked ten blocks to the visitor’s center. A friendly young woman at the front desk confirmed that most of the town shuts down on Monday. On a side street, we found an open artist’s studio in a decommissioned church. Two dogs snoozing in the sunlight of an arched window reinforced that it was time to move on.

We’d been on the go each day and hadn’t eaten a real lunch since three days before at Reata in Alpine. We hoped to find an equally quaint place in Marfa, but that possibility was dimming. So we headed on to Fort Davis to eat, explore and kill time before we returned to Alpine to catch our train at 8:30 that night.

Moving on to Fort Davis

Forty minutes later in Fort Davis, things were not as quiet as in Marfa but nothing looked appealing. Deciding that we’d make the best of things and have a picnic, we stopped at the local grocery store to pick up lunch meat, bread, cheese, and tortilla chips. We still had a couple of glasses of wine left in our bottle from Alpine.

Leaving the store, we saw signs for a scenic loop and headed that way. The Davis Mountains State Park came up quickly and we opted to eat there. I love little Casita travel trailers which are made right here in Texas. We saw three Casitas lined up to get into the park. That was a good omen. After the ranger checked in the Casita crew, she turned to help us.

“We’ve been wondering around the area and today is our last day. What’s do you think is the most interesting place around here to have a picnic lunch?” I asked.

Asking museum docents, rangers or hotel staff about what they think is the most interesting place to visit in their area always turns up something memorable.

Finding the perfect picnic spot

She pulled out a map and a highlighter. “Go out and take the first left and keep going. That will take you up the Skyline Drive.” She pointed up the hill visible from the entrance office. ” There are two overlooks at the top. From one you can see the Indian Lodge. Backtrack to a sharp left turn and drive to the other lookout where there is a small stone cistern,” she said, marking the route. “The cistern and the hut was built by the CCC and from there, you can see all of town and down to the old Fort Davis parade grounds.”

Where the CCC boys ate

She wasn’t finished. “You’ll see some stone picnic tables and if you look immediately to the left, you’ll find an overgrown area. There is also a stone picnic table and fire pit there. That’s called ‘the King’s Table’. It’s where the CCC boys used to grill and eat when they were camping up there to build the overlooks.”

We followed her directions, past a trio of deer munching in a recently vacated camp spot and on up the Skyline Drive. We found the CCC overlook and the King’s Table. Next to it was a crumbling stone oven and grill. It was shaded and partially hidden by brush and trees. We carried over our picnic provisions, ate our sandwiches and chips , and drank the last of our wine out of light-weight plastic glasses from the Paisano’s bathroom. It was a fine meal. Thank you, CCC Boys.

The Scenic Loop around Fort Davis

After lunch, with hours to kill and no desire to rush back to Alpine, we continued onto the scenic loop outside the Davis Mountain National Park. We were operating with only the highway signs to direct us. Had we gotten a map of the loop, we might have reconsidered.

When I did finally see a map well after our drive, it had this caution – “The Scenic loop is 75 miles of majestic scenery and wildlife. It takes two hours to complete without stopping. Be sure you have plenty of gas, water, and snacks. Please respect the privacy of others by staying on the pavement – Thank you.”

Bloys Campmeeting

The Scenic loop delivered on all the majestic scenery and the endless driving. I am glad we took it but wondered at the time if we would ever get back to people. Towards the end of the loop, we passed a forbidding and austere compound. Think Branch Davidians or a rebel polygamist sect. A metal sign read “Bloys Campmeeting”. The place looked completely deserted and yet well maintained.

Researching later to write about this segment of our trip, I learned about William B. Bloys in Texas Escapes and the Texas State Historical Association Handbook. Each source had a lengthy write-up on him. One went on to say that while Roy Bean is much more colorful and widely known, Bloys was far more influential then and now.

Bloys was a Presbyterian home missionary serving in Fort Davis. Because the ranches of the region were widely separated, it was impossible for frontier families to worship with their neighbors and friends. No matter what their denomination, Bloys rode and ministered to many of the outlying ranches along the same outback area that we’d driven.

In 1880, Bloys made a plan to bring local families together annually for religious services. An old-style camp meeting was organized and is still held annually from the first Tuesday through Sunday of August. Nothing is sold, money for lodging and food is donated with friends sharing cooking and maintenance duties. August 2016 was the 136th camp meeting.

The Shoot Big Bend film commission website promotes it as a setting for all kinds of productions. With rugged landscape and empty buildings, it could stand in for places all the world and in different centuries.

The Marfa Lights

Completing the Scenic loop at Highway 17, we retraced the drive back to Marfa and headed to Alpine. Nine miles out of town towards Alpine we passed the official viewing area for the Marfa lights. It was still early for any chance to see the bright, darting orbs that were first witnessed in 1888.

Roswell_-_Marfa_Lights_6080154805-1024x1080 Big Bend's River Road to Marfa and Ft. Davis — By mr_t_77 from WV, USA (ADSCN3737) [CC BY-SA 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons

The viewing center was built at the abandoned entrance to the old Marfa Army airfield, which churned out pilots to fight in WW2. Nearby Fort DA Russell was more interesting than a chance sighting of the lights. Fort Russell had been base for a Women’s Army Corp unit, for troops guarding the U.S.-Mexican border and then a German POW camp.

German POW’s and Marfa’s art cred

Building_98_Marfa_Texas-690x400 Big Bend's River Road to Marfa and Ft. Davis — By Alpine4now CC BY-SA 3.0,

In the late 1970s, Marfa’s patron art saint, Donald Judd acquired the former fort and began converting the buildings to house permanent large-scale art installations. Building 98, on the fort, now houses World War II German POW murals, completed in 1945 by Hans Jürgen Press and Robert Humpel, who were both German prisoners of war held at the base. The idea of a military camp morphing into an artist colony was intriguing, especially with the POW connection in both incarnations.

Jumping the train in Alpine

Amtrak app said the Sunset Limited was running on time so we drove back into Alpine. Since security is pretty light when you take Amtrak, we could almost wait until we heard the train whistle entering town to lock and leave our rent car under the tree by the train station and climb aboard. Time seems different when you travel by train and we liked that, at least this first time. Tonight we would ride the Sunset Limited back to Houston. I really wouldn’t mind if we encountered some delays on our return trip. Be careful of answered prayers.