We are currently in El Paso TX. What happened to our planned stay in Alpine you ask? Well, it happened, but the WiFi broadband was not wide enough to allow for long stays on the Internet or uploading of pictures; therefore, no blog posting. That was the only downside of the Lost Alaskan RV Park. The place was VERY clean with VERY friendly people and reasonable prices, especially with our Escapees Club discount. So, let us catch you up. We stayed four nights and then had to vacate the premises as there was no more room at any of the parks in the area due to the Annual Cowboy Poetry Reading Festival, which was starting on the 24th.
While in Alpine we had a great time checking out the local area. Local, however, is a relative term out in west Texas. Alpine has a population of around 5,500. The nearest large city (i.e., more than 5,500 people) is El Paso, 220 miles away. However, Marfa (pop. 2,700) is 30 miles, Fort Davis (pop. 1,000) is around 25 miles, and the Big Bend National Park is a mere 110 miles from Alpine.
Are we there yet???
We spent a day driving around, getting a feel for the place. It is high desert, the Chihuahuan Desert to be exact, surrounded by the Davis, Chinati, and Chisos Mountains. We went up to Fort Davis and spent some time at the Fort Davis Historical Park (the post was closed in 1885). The fort was built in the mid-1800's to protect traffic along the San Antonio/El Paso trail from Apache, Comanche, and bandit attacks. At its height, approximately 600 Army troops were stationed there at any one time, mostly Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry after the Civil War. This was also the fort where the Cavalry’s camel unit was stationed. That's right, camels were imported into the Chihuahuan Desert in the 1800's as pack animals for the US Army. Apparently the program was quite successful until the Civil War when the unit was disbanded.
Parade Ground in front of officers' quarters
Married officer housing
Officer housing
Later that afternoon, we went over to Marfa and wandered around town. Unfortunately, it was Sunday and most of the art galleries were closed. Seems that Marfa has become quite the artsy town, with quite a few artists moving in and galleries opening. We did get to see the Chinati Foundation. It's a contemporary museum and studio space on 340 acres in old army barracks and artillery sheds opened by Donald Judd back in the 70's. It has installations by Dan Flavin, John Chamberlin, and Judd, along with other rotating exhibits by other modern artists. It was a bit esoteric and abstract for us. However, we did enjoy the aluminum installation by Judd. Guess living in an aluminum tube has given us an appreciation for the stuff.
Aluminum installation by Donald Judd
That night we made sure to be in place at dusk to watch a terrific sunset, followed by the Marfa Lights up in the Chinati Mountains. The lights are fun to watch, some say they’re reflections from auto headlights on the highway across the valley floor, others think they are due to atmospheric changes as the temperature drops after the sun goes down. Who knows? But they are quite the tourist attraction and the town has built a fancy viewing area with telescopes for your viewing pleasure.
Sunset outside Marfa, TX
Monday we got up at 0400 and drove down to Big Bend National Park in time to see the sunrise over the Chisos Mts. and the Chihuahuan Desert. Big Bend is 800,000 acres of desert and mountains bordered by 118 miles of the Rio Grande. Across the river is Mexico. We did some hiking along the Lost Mine Trail and the Santa Elena Canyon. It was absolutely breathtaking, literally and figuratively. Boy, we really need to work out more! Between being out of shape and being at 6,000 feet elevation, we were pooped!
Sunrise at Big Bend National Park
Sunrise at Big Bend National Park
The Chisos Mountains from the Lost Mine Trail
Santa Elena Canyon and the Rio Grande, right side USA, left side Mexico
On our last day we lounged around the trailer for the morning, then went to eat in Alpine at Reata’s. We had run across a cookbook at the Big Bend Park gift shop on Monday with some fabulous recipes and after buying a copy discovered that the original restaurant was in Alpine. It is apparently a “destination” restaurant for the foodies out there. I had Carne Asado with Cheese Enchiladas and Heinz had the Chicken with Mango Salsa, with a side of Jalapeno Cheese Grits. Yummy! But later that evening we had even better food up in Fort Davis for dinner at a little bistro called Lupita’s Place. Actually, it’s a little trailer parked n the side of the main drag with some tables outside. We had the Texas Tornado Burrito - melt in your mouth tender brisket with avocado paste, queso fresca, and green chile sauce and the Asado Burrito - super tender pork and a fiery red chile sauce. Now THAT’S a destination restaurant in my book!
Lupita's Place, Fort Davis, TX
Along with eating our way across west Texas, we also took in the McDonald Observatory on top of Mount Locke outside of Ft. Davis (home of NPR’s StarDate). During the afternoon we took in the Solar Tour that included a lecture on the sun and neighboring stars, real time telescopic images of the sun, and a tour of two of the telescopes, altogether a 3-hour tour. That night (after that wonderful dinner at Lupita’s) we went back to the observatory for a Star Party. This included a humorous look at the night sky narrated by an observatory employee. I have never seen so many stars, with no night lights anywhere for miles around, it was phenomenal. Following the talk, you got to wander around looking through various telescopes varying in size from 16 to 28 inches, each aimed at a different area of the sky. We got to see the Orion nebula, the Andromeda nebula, Jupiter and 4 of its moons, among others. The star party lasted around 2 ½ hours and there were around 100 people in attendance. The workers told us that this time next week the star parties will have around 1,000 people each night due to spring break. Wow, glad we got there when we did, telescope lines were short and no one minded if you took your time ooh-ing and ahh-ing into the lens. If you ever make it down that way, this is bargain priced entertainment. A total of 6 ½ hours for $20 each.
McDonald Observatory
107 inch telescope
Along the way we have continued to make all sorts of friends and wanted to share their portraits with you.
Wednesday we packed up and headed over here to El Paso. We’re parked in the Fort Bliss FamCamp. The past two days have been spent resting, doing small maintenance on the trailer, and scoping out El Paso. With Juarez across the river, there is a definite Hispanic cast to the town. Lots of adobe, lots of colorful tiles on the buildings, etc.
Last night we took in a concert by Joe Bonamassa. Wow, this was our second time to see him in person and we were blown away again by his skill on the guitar. Now I know how the Deadheads felt all those years…we may have to start following Joe from town to town.
Tomorrow we’re off to explore Las Cruces and Silver City over in New Mexico and maybe do a little hiking in the Gila National Forest if there’s time.
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Recipe Corner... This one is adapted from Reata: Legendary Texas Cuisine by Mike Micallef. We enjoyed his version, but added more cheese and jalapeno to suit our tastebuds along with using fast cooking grits to speed things along for RV cooking. The original calls for cooking regular grits for 30-40 minutes.
Jalapeno-Cheese Grits (
3 cups water
3 cups heavy cream
3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 ½ cups quick cooking grits
4 tbsp unsalted butter
3 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Combine the water, cream, jalapenos, salt, and pepper in a large saucepan and cook over high heat until the liquid has reached a rapid boil. Reduce the temperature and simmer for 5 minutes. Slowly stir in grits, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Cook until grits are soft and creamy. Remove from heat and add butter and cheese. Stir until both are melted and thoroughly mixed into the grits. Season with more salt and pepper, if needed. Serve hot.
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