We got on the road Saturday morning early to drive the 406 miles to Marfa, TX. Don is trying to win a driving award. He has only let me drive 3 hours in the last two weeks. He IS a good driver and I AM a good navigator, so I guess it works out. The picture taken from my perspective in the car gives you some idea of the terrain. However, western Texas did get a lot more interesting and we began to see mountains, grazing land, and large ranches. 80 miles an hour is permitted on many of the highways...so the 406 miles was doable in six hours.
Marfa, TX, was my idea. We were seeing so many big cities (which we do love), I thought we needed to get off the beaten path. Before hitting Marfa, we went through Alpine, TX home of Sul Ross University. It is a pretty little Texas university town. The university also has a 468 acre working ranch.
Marfa isn't quite as big or pretty as Alpine. Its population is around 2000 people and it is noted for its art community, Marfa lights (mysterious colored spheres which appear in the sky), and for providing backdrop for movies Giant, No Country for Old Men, and There Will be Blood, to name a few.
We stayed at the El Paisano, a historic hotel which housed the cast of Giant including James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson. Don wanted to stay in the James Dean or Rock Hudson suites, but we settled for what was available.(http://www.hotelpaisano.com/pages/hp001.html)
We never saw the Marfa lights, but we did see an incredible star show after dinner. It is amazing to see a whole sky filled with brilliant lights. Actually, we thought we saw Marfa lights, but that was after dinner and a bottle of local wine.
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