Marfa, TX & Big Bend
Why would anyone go to Marfa, TX? Well, its been on my list of places to see for awhile. Marfa is a weird little town for many reasons, but I'll give you two. First, the Marfa Mystery or ghost lights. These are mysterious lights that appear in the night sky as glowing red, blue or white orbs and have been seen since at least the early 1800's. They have even built observatories on the outskirts of town for people to view them. Some think they're UFO's while others prefer a more scientific explanation like atmospheric gases. But they remain unexplained thus far.
Second, Marfa is where the movie Giant was filmed in 1955. It starred Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean, who died in a horrific car crash shortly after filming. The actors all stayed in the luxurious Hotel Paisano and much of the movie was filmed in an oil field outside of town.
The hotel, now fully restored and wit a rich history of its own, is surrounded by tall cedar trees and is designed in the old west style with an outdoor fountain and patio, a large living room with a big stone fireplace, large comfortable sofas and mounted animal heads on the walls.
One small room is devoted to all things Giant. Pictures of the stars, a cardboard life size cutout of James Dean and the movie Giant is playing on a continuous loop.
We didnt get to see the Marfa lights since we were staying elsewhere but even if we had been there, a hugh dust storm blew in that night with 75mph winds. Luckily, we were not camping.
On our way out of town, we accidentally ran across a whole diorama of Giant out on the highway near the oil field where the movie was filmed, with lifesize cutouts of the actors and even a speaker playing songs from the movie.
Next day, we headed to Big Bend near the town of Terlingua, an old mining town surrounded by hugh outcroppings of rock. The town exploits its proximity to the park with its own ghost town and funky restaurant called The Starlight Theater. We camped there in a campground called Willow Creek, a bare bones park but laced with breathtaking scenery and beautiful night skies with thousands of stars above us.
But putting up a tent in super windy conditions proved challenging. The tent almost took off like a weather balloon and we snapped one of our tent poles. Patti rose to the occasion in true McGiver fashion and jury rigged it with stakes and string. New poles had to be shipped and sent to our cousins in Goodyear, AZ.
Big Bend, our first National Park to visit on this trip, includes an entire mountain range ( the Chisos Mountains) and contains over 800,000 acres. Earthquakes millions of years ago caused magma to spew up from the earth's interior to form giant rock formations. Its otherworldly and looks like an alien planet. A few homesteads are still standing from the 1940's when ranchers used to raise sheep and goats.
Another part of the park along the rio grande and Mexico is more green and lush with pine and pinion trees covering the mountainous outcrops.
