ALPINE AND THE MARF(TX)

In late spring I had the pleasure of sharing a weekend road trip with my favorite (now retired) high school librarian.  She's a wonderful lady and a brave soul, and a many years ago she willingly chaperoned myself and eleven other high school girls on a graduation trip to the magical Cibolo Creek Ranch.

Anyway, my dear friend Ann (the librarian chaperone) remains one of my closest friends to this day, and after kicking cancer's butt last year, she decided it was time for a walk down memory lane.  Or rather, memory ranch road.  So we headed out to West Texas to see how the topography has changed.  The land, it turned out, looked much the same.  Dry, arid, expansive and beautiful in its own right.  The towns have evolved, however, and I wanted to share a few highlights.  Here is a loose look at our itinerary, and a few of our favorite stops along the way:

FRIDAY MORNING- Early departure

It was amazing to watch the day take shape as we cruised down Highway 290 through the Texas Hill Country.  Almost as amazing as the cinnamon roll we had at Mahaley's Cafe in Fredericksburg.  Seriously, I've thought about this cinnamon roll a LOT since this trip.  I would be willing to venture that it is worth the one and a half hour drive to Fredericksburg from Austin.  Fredericksburg is getting cuter, hipper, and more interesting every year.  I hope to spend a whole weekend there sometime soon.  And of course, eat many cinnamon rolls.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON- Arrive Alpine

Alpine, TX is an amazing little find.  It's neighbor, Marfa, has gotten a lot more attention lately (more on Marfa in a minute) but I have to say that I think I may just be an Alpine girl.  We stayed at The Maverick Inn which had great rooms, a killer Western decor, and a very friendly staff.  Their tag line is "A Roadhouse for Wanderers" which felt really spot on. 

The Maverick Inn

After settling in, we hit the galleries and shops downtown. One of my favorites was Ivey's Emporium. The lady behind the counter put a plate of candy together for us to sample which was delicious and so hospitable.  There are tons of things to look at in this store, so you kind of have to get psyched up, but I managed to get out with only one small retablo of St. Gabriel.  In the adjacent store next door, I loved these wool blankets from Pendleton Woolen Mills.  The whole store definitely inspired me to get my western groove on. Once the cocktail hour set in, we headed to the funky Saddle Club for drinks. They served up a delicious margarita, among other things.  By 7 pm or so, the bar had gotten extremely full but the local crowd seemed super laid back and in a great mood.  I could definitely pass a few lazy nights here and be just fine with it.

      

     The Saddle Club

After dinner at the very local La Casita, we headed back to The Maverick to get rested for the next day.

SATURDAY- More Alpine and Marfa, too

The Granada Yoga Studio

We started the day off with an UH-mazing yoga class at The Granada Yoga Studio located in the beautifully renovated building that also houses the lovely Granada Theatre.  The yoga was classic Iyengar, and the teacher (Jesse Moore Kelsch) was excellent.  I came in nursing an ankle injury, and Jesse suggested I stretch it in this particular way with a yoga strap, conceding that it would feel either awesome or awful and cautioning me to proceed with care.  It felt sort of awful at first, then very awesome, and I didn't have any problems with the ankle for the rest of the day.  Yay yoga!

Judd's 100 Works in Mill Aluminum at The Chinati Foundation

After a calm start, it was off to the races.  We headed west for a 30 minute drive to Marfa in order to hit up the abbreviated morning tour of Donald Judd's landmark sculptures at The Chinati Foundation.  I really loved Donald Judd's 100 Works in Mill Aluminum, and did find the way the work interacted with the landscape pretty breathtaking.  It struck me as especially ironic to look out of the building that houses the work and see an 18-wheeler hauling a double wide down the long street lined with trees that Judd planted himself to be in dialogue with his work. Hmmmmm. I wonder what that double wide would say to his 100 aluminum boxes?  The thought made me smile, which, to be frank, modern art rarely does.

At any rate, after finishing the walking tour at Chinati we found ourselves parched and famished, so we refreshed with an amazing burger and a beer at Padre's which totally hit the spot.  Otherwise, we had a great time poking around town and actually really loved the Presidio County Museum as well as the sweet octogenarian local who served as docent that day.  We briefly checked out both El Cosmico and the Hotel Paisano, both of which were impressive in their own right (El Cosmico a bit more rustic than I expected, and the Paisano a bit fancier).  Both very cool, though in Marfa, what else is to be expected?

We spent the afternoon visiting our old stomping grounds at Cibolo Creek Ranch and wondering how in the hell we managed to get out there at all.  It's literally about a 30 minute drive to the ranch road outside of Marfa (which, btw, feels kind of like the end of Earth anyway).  Once you turn on the ranch road, it's easily another 20 to 30 minutes down a gravel drive until you actually reach the ranch.   Bless our little librarian's heart, she did all this with 12 eighteen year old girls in her stead, years before the widespread advent of cell phones and internet (yes, I'm that old).  The woman is a complete bad ass.

A view of the historic fort at Cibolo Creek Ranch

Cibolo Creek was as dreamy as it was remote, and it was wonderful to walk down that particular stretch of memory lane together. 

A view of the ranch and surrounding terrain

After re-living the glory days, we furtively sought out a Dairy Queen (they are everywhere in rural Texas until you really NEED one) then headed back to Alpine to do some last minute shopping before changing clothes for dinner.  I had a blast checking out the lovely wares at La Junta Exchange downtown.  I went home with a pretty amazing skirt and a bright green belt for a great price.  I will definitely be back.   The icing on our cake was dinner at the famous Texas steak house Reata.  We chowed down on steak, these incredible house-made pecan biscuits with herbed butter, and Tenderloin Tamales with Pecan Mash.  There were also some Jalapeno Cheese Grits in the mix, and we washed it all down with a House Margarita.  Not exactly calorie conscious, but really freaking good.

It was an amazing trip, and I would love to do it again soon.  I'm not sure what the chances are, but it would be pretty priceless to have all twelve girls back in the saddle again, once more under the tutelage of our faithful librarian.  Some experiences are better left in the past, but I definitely think this one holds many happy trails still uncharted.