Sadly, we left the Big Bend and headed away from the border (for now) for the former US Army town of Fort Davis. It was not an arduous journey with little to speak about on the road apart from the occasional sight. There was the odd rugged mountain range, a fleet of semi’s delivering huge concrete bridge beams, the biggest indoor produce market we’ve seen and roads that go on forever until eventually we caught sight of the McDonald Observatory. It is this venue that had lured us to nearby Fort Davis (more on that later). It was a short trip and we arrived around noon so with the afternoon to spare we decided to backtrack to the town of Marfa.
First thing we looked at was St Paul’s Episcopal Church, a lovely old stone church with beautiful stain glass windows We followed that up with a visit to the Presidio County Court House. Once inside the front door of the court house you are struck by the lovely timber work and the circular staircase around the abyss upwards to the dome. The public are allowed up to the top and we took advantage of this to go to the top of the dome to over look the town.
Back on the streets again we wandered the streets and eventually came to the El Paisano Hotel. Marfa is a quaint little Texas town whose claim to fame is the iconic movie Giant . It was here at the El Paisano that movie greats Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean and Carroll Baker amongst other Hollywood stars stayed during the making of “Giant”. Even today it oozes the class and distinction of a ‘50s five star hotel.
Next day we travelled to the town of Alpine. Alpine is a lovely town with some of the weirdest (in a nice way) shops we’d ever visited. Antique shops are more like mini-museums of wacky. There’s the Murphy Street historical neighbourhood where we loved the paraphernalia available to purchase in the Mercado Store. There are a million art galleries and there are a heap of murals all over the town. After a tasty Thai meal we continued our township tour past Kokernot Field (apparently an important field in baseball history), some houses of historical significance and the University which looked quite grand.
On the Friday night (I think – who keeps track of what day it is?) we made our way up the mountains to McDonald Observatory, a very important geodetic link in the world of astronomy. We sat in on a very entertaining talk on our solar system which made understanding our world a bit easier. I now know I am not 65 years old. I have just done 65 laps around the sun (phew, I’m quitting the gym after that). Following the talk we walked up to the amphitheatre where another scientist again did an excellent (and somewhat humorous if you understand mathematical jokes) job of pointing out which stars are which in the northern sky using a powerful laser pointer. Once his talk was complete we were free to wander around the grounds (in the semi-lit dark) to a series of about 10 telescopes of different sizes to gaze at stars, galaxies and the constellations. Wow, these sights were amazing and I am convinced (as are many others) that we are not alone in this universe.
Back in Fort Davis there is history around but to me it was what I would expect of a wild west town. You can see in the buildings and the fort that this town was important back in the days of the Indian and Mexican wars. As we drove into town one day we were greeted by a herd of Prong Horn deer just on the city outskirts. Next thing you notice is the striking town hall. Across the road is the original old jail and the shops ooze that wild west feel. Check out the tree growing through the roof of Maddogs Cantina. But deer weren’t the only wildlife we saw. During a day trip around a scenic mountain range we saw an Eagle and a road runner and the afterwards while having a drink outside our van when Shane noticed a rabbit under the van behind us.
One final thing about Fort Davis, and the main reason for it’s existence is the old US Army Fort which again is rich in history about Cowboys and Indians, the Buffalo soldiers, Mexican war and stage coach stops. I am sure you can work out for yourselves what the majority of the pictures are about. Some have labels or we’ve included a photo of the signage from the fort.
In any case this is a large gallery on the Fort so I hope you can manage to look right through them.
That’s it for now. We’re in that town made famous by Marty Robbins. You know that “West Texas Town of El Paso” where he once fell in love with a Mexican girl. Great place but that’s the next blog.
Cheers
Garry & Shane.