We are headed out on our 9 day West Texas road trip with the kids. It's on Chad's bucket list. Every time I told someone where we are going for our summer vacay, I got a look. I get it. I voted for Mexico, but Chad pulled the Father's Day and birthday cards so he wins. It will be fun though. We are with each other outside the daily routine of life taking in beautiful sights and exploring. How can it not be? Anyway, I haven't blogged about our little family in a long time. I figured this would be a good time to pick back up.
Day 1: First stop: Thurber. We have traveled a long hour and a half. Whew. Time for dinner at Smokestack. They were offering live music and free beer. We're moving here.
Day 2: Stop 1. It's 109 degrees. Not a cloud in the sky. Let's slide down the sandhills in Monahans State Park in the middle of the day. Sounds like a great idea. It was! It's peaceful and quiet. You can rent sleds from the very friendly staff in the headquarters. As Nevie situated herself on the sled, I had a sudden vision of that scene from Christmas Vacation, but luckily she did not go that fast. (If you do not know what scene I am referring to, you need to watch Christmas Vacation! Only the best movie ever.) One piece of advice if you ever visit. Heed the signs that say drive on the paved road only. They are not just warning you against trying to drive on the dunes. Not that we would ever accidentally drive off road to park, but a big shout out to the nice man that happened to drive by and pull us out of a sandy situation. Not a lot going on in this state park, but its cool. Worth the stop.
Stop 2: Pecos, Texas. We worked up a hunger climbing sandhills. Alfredo's Mexican Restaurant in Pecos, Texas seemed like a good place to lunch. Decent food for being out in the middle of the desert.
Stop 3: Marfa, Texas. Our home for next few days. The house we rented, called the West Texan, is super cute and perfect for what we need. It's conveniently located within walking distance to restaurants, shopping, a great coffee shop and all downtown has to offer too! We will most definitely enjoy our stay.
Next attraction: the McDonald Observatory. If you ever have the opportunity to visit, you have to do the star party. It is the most awesome experience! We saw stars, constellations and planets through powerful telescopes. Mila was a little too young because of the late start (it starts after it's completely dark for obvious reasons and there's a lot of teaching going on), but the girls were in awe. Our favorite by far was Jupiter and Saturn and out of the two, Saturn was amazing. When Nevie looked through the telescope and saw Saturn she said, "wow that is so cool". The staff member said "that's what I like to hear". Any type of light and photography are not allowed so I don't have any pictures of the really cool part, but what an amazing night!
Day 3: Chinati Foundation. Adding a little art to our trip. Girls liked it, but were too hot to really enjoy the outdoor untitled 15 works in concrete by Donald Judd, but liked his untitled 100 works in mill aluminum (no photos were allowed), which was in an old indoor German POW camp.
Quick stop to see El Cosmico.
On to lunch at the Pizza Foundation. I'm not going to say it hit the spot, but....
P.S. That is Chad's beer.
Now back to the house to cool down in what apparently everyone in Marfa swims in. It has a system that first puts out hot water with a temperature reaching as high as 126 degrees then cold water with a temperature in the low 70s. We need to put one of these (only slightly bigger) in our backyard. The girls had so much fun!
Next stop: Alpine, Texas. Games and local craft beer at Big Bend Brewing Co. Then on to Kokernot Field to watch the Alpine Cowboys take on the Roswell Invaders. Happy Father's Day Chad!
Day 4: Davis Mountains State Park. By far, our favorite state park yet. We planned what we thought was going to be a short 1.2 mile easy hike with the girls, but it was a tougher trail than we expected. It started off easy, but that quickly changed. Dang changes in elevation. Luckily, a nice couple saw us struggling with the girls from the scenic overlook point above our trail and waited there for us. They gave Chad a ride to our car so the girls wouldn't have to walk any further. That's the second time on this trip we've been bailed out by a Good Samaritan. I am seeing a recurring theme here. There are good people in West Texas. All in all, the girls were troopers and did awesome (snacks and cold water helped) and the scenery was worth it! Starving, hot and tired, we drove to the Drugstore in Fort Davis for a late lunch and old fashioned ice cream. Time to cool off in the backyard tub. We had planned to go see the Marfa lights tonight, but that may be it for us today. I can't believe it's already day 4. Sign of a fun trip.
We got a second wind and went to see the Marfa lights. You can't go to Marfa and not see the lights ... except you can. They were cool, but not as impressive as we expected. You can't see them in the pictures but take my word, these dots of lights appeared randomly in the moutains. There are a lot of theories about what they may be. Kinda crazy and neat. We were surrounded by beauty, and now we can say we saw the Marfa lights.
Day 5: Happy birthday Chad!!!! Our destination today is the Gage Hotel in Marathan, Texas. Goodbye Marfa. We had a great time here, but unfortunately it's time to move on. We took some pictures around town before heading out, including one of the pink courthouse.
First stop: Back to Alpine, Texas for Chad's birthday lunch at the original Reata and pictures in front on all the cool murals.
Stops 2 and 3: Introducing the girls to Prada and then reminding them that we shop at Target. Mean Mama.
Stop 4: The Gage Hotel. We made it to Marathon, Texas, and the girls were ready to swim. This is a nice little retreat in the middle of nowhere and where we will continue to celebrate Chad's birthday. Dinner at the 12 Gage (hotel restaurant) was phenomenal.
Day 6: Big Bend National Park. By far, our favorite national park. Everyone should have Big Bend on their bucket list. We went to the Chisnos Mountains Basin where we had lunch and hiked very short trails (we didn't want a repeat of Monday out in bear and mountain lion country) and the Boquillas Canyon to see the views of the Rio Grande. It was sort of surreal standing on the edge of Texas looking at Mexico. The beauty was humbling. The mountains were mesmerizing. The day was amazing. The pictures say it all.
Back to the Gage to cool off and relax. Apparently, Mila wants to live here (see below video).
Day 7: Balmorhea State Park. It's day 7 and time to start the trek back to Aledo, Texas. To Mila's disappointment, we must leave the Gage Hotel. I feel her pain. We all kinda want to move out to West Texas now. I'm sad the end of our West Texas tour is coming to an end, but not before spending a night at Balmorhea State Park and swimming in the huge spring pool. Bye Gage Hotel.
First Stop: We are back in Alpine for shopping and lunch at Guzzi Up, a pizza, pasta and wine bar. My kinda place. The girls bonded with the store dog, Cooper.
The road to Balmorhea via Route 17 and through Wild Rose Pass was breathtaking.
Stop 2: Balmorhea State Park. Swimming with Headwater Catfish and Freshwater Shad in refreshing 72 degree water (year round) took the girls a little getting used to, but what a neat place. The pool went from 3 feet to 29 feet, and Nevie jumped off the high diving board with those in line cheering her on. Glad Mila and I weren't there for that or else Mila would have wanted to jump too. There were scuba diving coarses going on, which was cool. With the mountains as a backdrop to the magnificently clear blue water, the pool is a beautiful sight. Only bad/sad thing was Chad lost his wedding ring in the pool. We searched and searched to no avail but are holding out hope that one of the scuba divers will find it and turn it in. The park ranger has our number. Prayers to the Lord and St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost things. If not, I guess a part of us will always be in Balmorhea State Park.
Day 8: Big Spring, Texas. The last overnight stop before we make the final stretch home. It will be a low key evening of swimming in the hotel indoor heated pool (Thank God after that cold spring pool) and dinner at a local place called Carlos, which has been around since 1950.
Because we are nerds, we took pictures of all the courthouses we came across along the way. In order, Marfa, Fort Davis, Alpine, a United States District Courthouse in Alpine and Big Spring.
Day 9: Today we visited our last state park of this trip and checked out Big Spring's annual festival. I can't believe how fast these 9 days on the road flew by. I will miss hearing the train come through the small towns multiple times a day, those West Texas skies and mountain views. I was reminded of the sounds of the train rolling through my dad's home town of Big Wells, Texas when we visited. As loud as it was, I found it comforting in a way while others we spoke to found it annoying. I must admit (as much as it pains me to do so), Chad was right. This was a super fun, beautiful, enlightening and really neat trip. I highly recommend it.
We are pulling out of Big Spring (Mila is obviously not happy about this). The girls have snacks. A movie is on. Country road take us home.....
1,648.9 miles, a lot of rocks, several pine cones, one dead butterfly (don't ask), several pieces of beautiful artwork by the girls, lots of movies in the car, wonderful memories and over a week later, we made it home. Thanks be to God for a safe and fantastic trip!!
