MARFA TEXAS

Marfa is a city in the high desert of far West Texas, located between the Davis Mountains and Big Bend National Park. It is the county seat of Presidio County, and its population is about 2000.  The city was founded in the early 1880s as a railroad stop; the population increased during World War II, but the growth stalled and reversed somewhat during the late 20th century. Today, Marfa is a tourist destination and a major center for (of all things) Minimalist Art.

Like many of the towns in Texas, Marfa has a gorgeous (and imposing) County Courthouse.

Marfa's minimalist art movement began in the mid 1970's when artist Donald Judd located here from New York City.   Judd began something of a "land rush" of other artists, which began to change the complexion of Marfa's "sleepy little West Texas town" image.   We have seen bumper stickers that say "Marfa....weirder than Austin"; still another testament to its quirky nature.

We drove into the Tumble In RV Park in Marfa to find this small trailer in the center of things.  As  you can see this is the office where you "sign yourself in" and take a spot in the campground.  Payment is on the honor system right there inside the office trailer. 

Marfa has some very attractive buildings including this one to the right....the Marfa National Bank.

Marfa also has a large number of adobe homes, many of which are downright beautiful and naturally fit into the West Texas landscape.

This Quonset hut is the home of Buns and Roses, a great little breakfast and lunch place on the western fringe of Marfa.  Talk about a great breakfast.....this is one of those places.  The business is owned and operated by Bill (aka Bird) and Debbie Parrot and gets rave reviews from visitors and locals alike.  Debbie runs the place and is a very good "short order cook".   "Bird" has an auto and truck repair garage out back that includes a tow truck business.  We actually first met Bird many miles east in Del Rio Texas nearly a month earlier when we both pulled into a remote gas station for fuel.  He told us about Buns and Roses then, so we said we would stop by when we arrived in Marfa....and boy are we glad we did!

A rather "extreme" example (well, maybe not extreme to the minimalist folks) of the referenced art movement is this "shrine" some 31 miles west of Marfa in the little town of Valentine, TX.  A closer look revealed "Prada Marfa" above the awnings and inside the picture windows are Prada shoes and purses.   (As you can see this sits "in the middle of no-where").

Among other things, West Texas offers up some great Big Sky sunsets.....and we were fortunate to see many of them like this one

The end of a long day is rewarded with a glorious West Texas sunset.   Good Night, Marfa.