This is the second half of STOP 8 which is the 21st, 22nd and 23rd days of our ten week cross country fall adventure in 2021! Here is a link to our first half in Alpine, TX
Day 5 – Marfa, Fort Davis Scenic Loop, Fort Davis and Fort Davis National Park
As we check our maps and do a little research, we discover that one place we really wanted to go to, the McDonald Observatory, is closed today and tomorrow for a private event. Since this is a “dark sky” area, there is so much to see and learn. We are truly disappointed as this was high on our bucket list. We have found yet another reason to come back to this whole area in the future.
We head out of Alpine on US 90 west and decide to stop at the Marfa Lights Visitor Center/Viewing Area. It turns out all it is – is bathroom facilities. I guess when people come here to try to see the lights at night, its better they have a place to “go” than just in the bushes. What are the Marfa Lights (you ask)? Well – there’s no definitive answer to that question. Some think it is just headlights from US 67 (Presidio Highway) – and that might be what some people see. Some say the lights are an atmospheric phenomenon, similar in concept to the Northern Lights (aka Aroura Borealis). Some say it is the ghosts of ancient indians and prospectors. The lights are sometimes red, sometimes blue, often white and appear to either “dance around” in the sky or just shift rapidly from one location to another (the latter of which is what Harrison saw when we were camping at Rancho Topanga Campground in Terlingua).
We stop in the town of Marfa and take some photos, then head north on TX 17. We want to catch the Fort Davis Scenic Loop Drive – and so we turn left onto TX 166 and drive it in reverse. When TX 166 ends, we head east on TX 118 toward Fort Davis.
This 75 mile paved drive take you through Limpia Canyon and Madera Canyon with gorgeous views of the Fort Davis Mountains (as well as views of the Sierra Viejo Mountains to the south). Before we get to the start of the Davis Mountains Drive, we pass a enormous green house compound that must be 100 acres or more with countless tomato plants at maturity.
A Giant Green House
The highest elevation on the Loop is about 6700 feet, making it the highest public highway in Texas. It takes us about 2 hours to do the entire drive
We land in Fort Davis and are hungry. We walk around the town and know through pre-search that there aren’t many food options in town. We end up at Cueva de Leon with the slowest service ever, but the great food was worth the wait.
Next we backtrack slightly to explore the Fort Davis National Historic Site. From 1854 to 1891, Fort Davis was a frontier military post in the Indian Wars. It protected those travelling to California to seek gold, mail coaches and freight wagons on the Trans-Pecos portion of the San Antonio-El Paso Rd. Named after Jefferson Davis, its access to wood, grass and water made it an ideal location. It was briefly occupied by the Confederates during the Civil War (1861-1862), then by the Union. It was then abandoned for five years before the 9th US Calvary re-occupied the Fort, refurbishing some building and building other new ones. At this point there were over 100 structures and 400 troops to help battle the Apache and Comanche. There is a hospital at the site that is very well documented.
We get back to our cute rental and meet Deb & Becky, sisters who have recently arrived and have the unit next door. They have come to check in with and visit their Mother that lives in Alpine. Deb lives the closest (San Antonio) and she is one of six siblings. Deb come down here “quite often” and one of her siblings typically joins her, so she get the opportunity to not only visit Mom, but have sibling time together. They are here for 2 nights. I inquire about restaurants and get a recommendation for one of the places we passed over the other night, so we may check it out before we leave. Not tonight – neither of us are very hungry since lunch wasn’t until 2pm and it was large portions. We stay in and just have snacks and catch up on some of our binge watching shows on Netflix.
Day 6 – A Walking Tour of Historic Alpine and a Day in the Rental Watching Football
Today is one of those built in days of rest. We do want to get in a walk today so we take our Auto & Walking Tour of Alpine map and venture out for a walk. We had driven down the “main drag” (aka Holland Ave), but hadn’t done much exploring of the back streets behind it. One thing this town is known for is its painted murals – truly beautiful art on many buildings throughout this part of town.
We see an original old Hotel, old cafes, saloons and shops. We even find a tiny “casino” with about 20 slot machines inside. We get to peek in the windows of some of the restaurants we had only previously driven by. About 2 miles in, we realize we’ve been walking the auto tour and not the walking tour!
We head up to the Museum of Big Bend which is located on the campus of Sol Russ State University. The website said it opened at 10am today but as previously mentioned, websites aren’t necessarily up to date and it is closed on Sundays and Mondays. We are leaving first thing Tuesday, so we will miss it completely. We pass the grocery store and need to pick up 3 items. We don’t want to carry the items for the rest of the walking tour, and it is hot, so we head back to the rental unit and will probably finish the walk tomorrow.
Back to the room to watch NFL football, work on our blog, pay bills online, while doing laundry. We take time to watch the movie Fandango since we’d run into the folks on the “fan tour”. The very basic plot follows the adventures of 5 friends, on the evening after their 1971 college graduation, as they journey 400 miles from San Antonio to “Dom Rock” along the Rio Grande where years ago they buried a bottle of Dom Perignon Champagne. It is a great coming of age/bonding of friends movie – but it holds special significance as we see many places in the movie that we went to or drove by.
Day 7 –
Today’s Adventure
Partially inspired by watching Fandango last night, we decide that on our last day, we are going to drive back to Terlingua and drive FM 170 through Big Bend Ranch State park again to the place where we met the fan club. It was the most beautiful drive and it is worth a second pass. We take a different route south (TX 118) and left west again on FM 170 along the Rio Grande and the edge of Big Bend Ranch State Park. We stop at “DOM Rock” and this time we hunt for where “The Dom” is/was buried. We notice “DOM” is inscribed in huge letters on 2 different rocks and we find the cleverly hidden burial place.
We continue on FM 170 and will come back yet another way, “Hwy 169” – and we note how odd this road is called a highway when it is a dirt road with a 30mph speed limit (and one would be hard pressed to reach 30mph safely). Back on the main roads, we cross through Border Patrol again (same guy as yesterday) and head to Marfa and then back to Alpine. Somewhere along our route, we pass the 4000 mile driving mark.
Our Evening in Alpine
We haven’t walked much today so we pick up the Alpine Walking tour where we left off. This part of the tour is mostly historical homes and a few old businesses. This includes the Sonic where parts of the movie Fandango were filmed.
It doesn’t take us long to complete the tour so now we head to a bar that Evo had recommended: Harry’s Tinaja. We get some folks to shuffle seats at the bar so we can have 2 together and we can tell by their friendliness that we’ve chosen a great place. This bar is wood and has tasteful graffiti carvings on the top and there is a TV tuned to sports. The walls and ceilings are lined with $1 bills inscribed with people’s names and sayings. Nancy sits next to Noble & Elaine, Harrison is next to Robert and our bartender is Sara. Sara gets us some markers and a stapler so we can add our own personalized bill to the ceiling. We have a great time, but they don’t serve food so we need to transition to somewhere that does. Sara asks where we plan to eat and when we mention Century Bar & Grill, another guy at the end of the bar informs us it is closed today.
After further conversation, we head out to Old Gringo Coffee and Cocktails, a biker bar known for their Tex-Mex food. There aren’t any TVs at the bar so we opt for a high top table in the main room that has a TV directly in front of us – its Monday night and that means NFL football. The two women at the table across from us quickly introduce themselves to us – Judith & Dottie. They are already done with dinner and it is very obvious they are a few drinks into happy hour. We order the Texican Platter that has 2 beef enchiladas, a beef soft taco, rice and refried beans. Hands down – this was in the top Tex-Mex food we’ve both ever eaten. Strong recommendation. Judith leaves so we invite Dottie to join us. She’s sharing her story of how she came to Alpine and mentions that 2 of her daughters just came to visit her. Nancy puts two and two together and asks if their names are Deb & Becky – and we are all amazed at what a small world it is! These are the two sisters that had stayed in the unit next to us.
Our time at Gringo’s and with Dottie comes to an end and we decide to head back the Harry’s Tinaja. Sara is still there, but now we meet Rolly, a guy in town checking on his parents that are having some health issues. We meet the other bartender, Sierra and owner Harry joins when Sara’s shift is over. Harry is from Germany and has lived in Alpine (and owned this place as well as the Holland Hotel) for 14 years. A guy named Omar picks up a guitar and starts playing and singing “House of the Rising Sun”. A wonderful evening of conversation, laughter and life.
Our Verdict
We fell in love with Alpine for its simplicity and friendly people. It is a great anchor point for both the Big Bend area (if you don’t mind driving 1.5 hours each day to get there – but there really isn’t much that is decent that is closer. Maybe Terlingua or Lajitas. But there is so much more to this area and Alpine becomes a great central point with a good infrastructure of restaurants. We’ll be back.
Next Up
We are off to explore all that the Carlsbad, NM area has to offer.
Here is a link to our first half in Alpine, TX
Here is the link to the next stop in Carlsbad New Mexico
[…] This is STOP 9, the 24th, 25th, and 26th days of our ten week cross country fall adventure in 2021! Here is a link to our previous stop in Alpine TX […]