We were so excited to get to Marfa. It was our first glimpse of the wide-open Western USA. We weren’t even mad when we were 20 mins away from our destination after a 7 hour drive. It already was looking different and being out in the wide open landscape always makes me feel alive. We parked at a rest stop right off of the main road, and we only had one other truck join us for a few hours in the evening. The next morning we didn’t hurry to leave, there was a big open field to play fetch with the dogs so we took advantage of that. After we wore the pups out, had breakfast, drank coffee, and got dressed we headed into Alpine for a quick look around then proceeded to Marfa.
Marfa is a strange and unique place. A sleepy town that comes alive when a festival or event is taking place. But what we learned after making this video is that shop and restaurant owners make their own hours, they aren’t always open, and when they are they aren’t consistent. All the places we were excited about visiting/eating at were closed… lol But we still had a fun time walking around and checking out the scenes. One thing I highly recommend when walking around in the sun is bring chapstick and water! The elevation really messed with me, after like 2 hours of wandering I was parched and exhausted.
The best part of Marfa for us was parking at the “Marfa Lights Viewing Center” for the evening. We made dinner, got the pets settled, and grabbed a couple beers to sit on our rooftop deck. The sunset was incredible, and we had some good and much needed not-so-fun conversations. But I remember feeling so refreshed that night. It reminded me why we were on the road in the first place! Exploring and experiencing things together.
Also, the “Marfa Lights” we are pretty sure they are just headlights. They were in the same area the whole night and weren’t very mysterious. I was kinda bummed, I was looking forward to being a little creeped out. ;P
We headed out the next morning through New Mexico to Patagonia, Arizona. Stay tuned for that adventure.
Place we ate
The menu grossed me out (dirty), but the people were nice, and the brisket tacos were pretty good!
Shops that were open
Spare Parts (and/or Ranch Candy)
Super cute boutique, I wanted everything! Joe who is the owner was awesome and told us all about the famous people that come through, the television shows that are filming there, and just some awesome stuff about Marfa!
Super cool and large gift shop. It seems like the hotels in Marfa were the best places to check out. I think they kinda have to be open
Where we stayed
We were pretty happy with this spot. There is a train and the road near it, but it was pretty quiet. With wonderful internet and a nice place to play fetch with the dogs we were thrilled.
We were the only camper parked there for the night, and we parked far enough from the center we didn’t even hear the other people visiting. Next to the highway so there was some noise, but it was a fun time- and FREE.
5 Comments
Hey You Two, Nice blog! Found you thru Pinterest. Love what you did with your RV. Got some great ideas. Enjoyed reading about your adventure so far. Joshua Tree? Can’t wait to read all about it. Been interested in it for years. So many places, so little time. Since your heading West, got to make it to Yosemite, PCH, SF, Oregon, Seattle etc..
Aw thanks so much for reading. We’re having a great time on our road trip so far. We’ll update the blog as we progress. Here’s our full 2017 road trip, which includes most of the place you’ve mentioned: http://188sqft.com/2017-road-trip/ See you down the road!
Hi Mandy & Kevin!
I went to Marfa last month and I too was there on a Sunday when everything was closed haha! 🙁
May I ask what camera you used for the video & pictures on this post? Is it the Canon G7X?
Safe travels!
It seems Marfa is always closed. For video we used Sony RX100 M4, but for the stills I used my professional camera the Nikon d700! <3
We also visited Marfa this summer. Drove thru very late on a Friday night headed out into the desert to a friend of my son ranch. We were way off the asphalt trail and had a great weekend. On Sunday, our first stop was Marfa. My son is an architect and actually worked on the big hotel in town. He met with a client about another building while my granddaughters and I ate at the DQ (only place open to eat on a Sunday). We had a brief tour of El Cosmico, the camping place and saw the Prada store. Fun artsy community