Marfa. 18th October 2025.
We set off after breakfast towards the small town of Marfa which is located some 25 miles west of Alpine along the US 90. About 9 miles before entering Marfa is the viewing point for the mysterious Marfa lights which are visible on most clear nights.
They were first written about in the 1880’s when a young cowboy noticed strange lights in the sky above the desert. He thought it was the campfires of passing Apaches but on investigation no ash or remnants of fire could be found. Subsequent sightings have been put down to marsh gas, electric discharges, old military equipment or ghost conquistadors looking for gold, but to this day no real explanation can be found. It attracts many visitors on every clear night.
After leaving the lights behind us we travelled through the town to view the “Giant” mural which is about five miles the other side of the centre.
The 1959 movie “Giant” starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and , of course James Dean was filmed in the area. It was the last movie that James Dean made as he was killed in a car accident some 3 months before its release. The mural commemorates the movie and was completed with funding from Mike Nesmith(of Monkees fame) who also provided the musical track that plays through speakers by the car on a continuous loop.
Marfa is known as being an artistic town and the Main Street is made up of many galleries featuring paintings, sculptures and prints made by local artists.
We popped into a couple but in honesty the art was not my style being generally very modern. We wandered into a municipal hall and gate-crashed another art event, this was made up of artists using computer coding rather than paint for their media. On one stand I had my photograph taken and converted into a local flower using the colour palette of my clothing.
I’m not sure I exactly understood what was happening but it did produce a nice picture of a flower.
Prior to having a spot of lunch we wandered around the town taking some more photos of the many interesting buildings ………
and the railway line which literally bisects the town.
We enjoyed lunch today in a busy coffee shop / restaurant called The Sentinel, an old newspaper building.
Here we feasted on the taco of the day washed down by some Mexican Coca-Cola (not sure what the difference between that and the “real thing” was though).
Although we drove through Fort Davis yesterday we didn’t have a chance to stop and explore so after eating we decided to go there today. The road took us through the desert area that we had sen from the opposite side yesterday.
Occasionally a tall plant was seen giving a great photo opportunity.
Most of the shops appeared closed but we did manage to find one souvenir store that was open.
Some of the buildings looked as if they were original from the days of the Wild West and you could just imagine a posse riding into town and tethering their horses outside the saloon. The local courthouse is of a much newer vintage.
Every evening the hotel serves a few snacks, crisps ( chips here in the US) dips and cheese along with free cans of beer, soft drinks and wine. Sylvia and I usually come down and plan out our activities for the following day. Tonight we were joined by around 20-30 bikers from a motorcycle club from San Antonio, I hasten to add these were not Hells Angels and most were close in age to ourselves.
Rather than eat the hotel provided snacks some of them had dropped into the local Pizza Hut and returned with around 25 very large pizzas which they shared amongst the rest of the guests. A very friendly bunch.