Anything worth visiting in West Texas? Or is there really nothing out there? (Dallas: motel, homes)

[UTHORNS96]

It is depending on what you like. Me personally? I'm not much of a West Texas type. Give me one of the large metros in the triangle any day of the week.

[catman]

doctorjef: Thanks for the clarification. For some reason, Post has always seemed soulful to me. Last time I was there, I walked down by the railroad tracks and sat on the loading area of an abandoned warehouse, listening to the quiet. That's something you never get in the Metromess (DFW)!

[TT Dave]

IMO the best area to visit in West Texas is the Fort Davis/Alpine/Marfa area. Big Bend National Park is nice too. The mountains out there really have their own unique beauty. When I was a kid we used to go camping near Fort Davis almost every year in the summer and we always had a good time. I think every Texan should see that part of the state at least once.

[joqua]

Originally Posted by TT Dave

Big Bend National Park is nice too.

I seldom see mention of the spectacular scenery along FM 170 between Lajitas and Presidio. I find the drive to be every bit as scenic as those within the park proper. One minute you're right at river level on the Rio Grande and the next you're looking over a cliff at the river far below. Sadly the ambience that once was Presidio has been despoiled by all of the violence on the MX side of the Rio.

[catman]

That is a great drive! I must say that I found Presidio to be a depressing place, though. Nothing but bad roads, welding shops and poverty that I could see, in addition to the godawful climate. This was back in 1992, before the border violence really took off.

[joqua]

Originally Posted by catman

I must say that I found Presidio to be a depressing place, though.

I don't know the current situation there but it used to be a very sleepy place. Interestingly, the bridge across the river was privately owned - not sure if that's still the case. Can't recall the name of the owner I once knew, but he was an El Paso business man. He also owned the only "motel" in Presidio at one time.

An aside:
I haven't been there in many years but used to pay a rancher to hunt on land about half way between Presidio and Lajitas. Never failed to get my deer the times I went there. Usually stayed the weekend - all meals provided in the fee, along with use of the bunk house with shower room, walk-in freezer, and dining room - used by ranch hands normally when not hunting season.

[badhornet]

Big Bend, Davis Mountains, Alpine, artsy fartsy town of Marfa, and good ol'Sanderson "The town to mean for Judge Roy Bean"

[doctorjef]

Marfa has become artsy-fartsy??? Do tell! Seriously, I'd like to hear more about this.

[joqua]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

Marfa has become artsy-fartsy??? Do tell! Seriously, I'd like to hear more about this.

The late great Minimalist artist, Donald Judd, adopted the town of Marfa and bought up many old buildings there to use both as display sites for his own work and the work of other artists who he collected.

In 1979, with help from the Dia Art Foundation, Judd purchased a 340 acre (1.4 km²) tract of desert land near Marfa, Texas which included the abandoned buildings of the former U.S. Army Fort D. A. Russell. In 1986 the properties were transferred to the ownership of the Chinati Foundation. The same year, the Chinati Foundation opened on the site as a non-profit art foundation, dedicated to Judd and his contemporaries. The permanent collection consists of large-scale works by Judd, sculptor John Chamberlain, light-artist Dan Flavin and select others, including David Rabinowitch, Roni Horn, Ilya Kabakov, Richard Long, Carl Andre and Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen. Judd's work in Marfa includes 15 outdoor works in concrete and 100 aluminum pieces housed in two painstakingly renovated artillery sheds.

[homeinatx]

I think the Trans-Pecos region of Texas is a spectacular place to spend a week or so: by far the most dramatic scenery in the state. The bridge over the Pecos River on 90 is breath-taking. There are plenty cool ghost towns: some being revived from Langtry to Terlingua. Marfa is a must visit destination for anyone interested in the art of the second-half of the twentieth century. Quite a few gallery spaces in addition to the Judd and Chinati foundations and some nice performance spaces. The Lannan foundation has a presence in Marfa as well, so there are often exhibits and readings by major contemporary artists and writers. The Marfa bookstore is one of the best independent bookstores in the state and I think the best Art bookstore in Texas. I also love the super-designer furniture stores with their signs "Tokyo, Paris, London, Marfa, Texas" signs. The Marfa Prada installation outside Valentine has an aching pathos. Big Bend for me is up there with Yellowstone and Yosemite, just much less crowded and floating the Boquillas or Santa Elena canyon when the river is high is about as good as nature gets.

I do a 4-5 day road trip from Austin whenever I have out of town guests with a little time, and without fail everyone is blown away: Lunch in Fredericksburg then onto Marathon to spend the night in the Gage Hotel - a truly gorgeous historic hotel with a fabulous bar and what used to be the best restaurant outside a major city - last time I went the restaurant was in transition and a shadow of its former glory, but the hotel is still great, then onto Marfa. spend the day touring the foundations - you have to book in advance, then the night at either the Thunderbird motel ( a slightly pretentious pomo take on a 1950s roadside motel, but fun) or at the Paisano, another excellent historic hotel. Night 3 at the Chinati hot springs, somewhat primitive accommodations and you need to bring your own food, but serene and magnificent. If you are driving a 4by4 and don't scare easily take Pinto Canyon Road from Marfa. Then a day driving or hiking the park and up to 90 and a night in Sanderson and then back to Austin. The distances are vast, but I think the combination of swank and rustic, culture and nature, beauty and desolation can't be beat. I would not want to live there, being more of a city-slicker myself, but it is my absolute favorite part of Texas to visit. Did I mention the stars at night? They did not build the McDonald observatory up there for nothing. And javelinas, road-runners, pronghorn antelope and fields and mountainsides of ocotillo and yucca. The river road which others have mentioned runs all the way from Candelaria in the west past the tiny town of Ruidosa, TX which has the crumbling ruins of a once magnificent adobe church to Presidio (good Mexican food but otherwise keep driving) to Lajitas to Terlingua, which offers an incredible view of the Chisos mountains has few equals anywhere as far as scenic drives go. It will take forever to get there from Dallas but is so worth it, in my book.