John and I just got back from a trip down to Marfa, Texas – about 3 hours from here – to meet our good friends Jim and Joan from San Antonio. We had a blast! Marfa far exceeded our expectations. Its population is 2121 according to the sign at the city limits. It’s like something from the 1950s. I’ve never seen so many nice bikes parked on the street without locks, we left the key in door of our casita when we left, and we saw a vintage VW Bug parked on the main street…with the keys dangling from the ignition.
The town is small with a great old court house that presides over everything. It has turned into sort of an artist colony with lots of galleries. We got to town mid-day on Saturday and started our visit with beer and BBQ at the Adobe Moon Cafe. Then we checked into our casita, Casa Agave, just off the main drag. We spent the afternoon drinking beer on the front porch and visiting. The rain forced us inside for a bit, but cleared up nicely in time to walk over a couple of blocks for a fantastic dinner at Maiya’s. After dinner, we dropped in at the local theatre to catch a few of their “24 Hour Plays” at the Goode Crowley Theatre – an evening of short plays that were just written the night before and handed to the actors Saturday morning. Lots of fun, and a really nice theatre.
Of course, around 9:30 or so, we had to head about 9 miles outside of town to try to see the Marfa lights. No dice, but maybe next time.
The drive to Marfa is kind of cool – very deserty with cool mountains. On Hwy 90, we saw this big blimp thing that was hovering low to the ground. The sign said it was an Air Force Tethered Aerostat Radar Site – according to the web site, it’s used for drug trafficking interdiction. Coming back, it was flying high above us – very strange to see in the middle of desert. We also saw lots of hawks and deer.
This morning we enjoyed some of John’s great coffee on the porch, then walked over to the Brown Recluse for good migas before packing up and heading out. It was so great to see Jim and Joan!
The rest of the week was pretty busy. We stayed home last Sunday after the torential rains the day before – the streets are just too iffy to try to get out. Monday night we hosted John’s book club. We read (or some people read…) “Arts of Power.” Another night we went to Michael and Teresa’s for drinks, and Friday night we went out for seafood with Caroline and Harold.
I started reading the new David Sedaris book, “When You Are Engulged in Flames.” Much more fun than the book club book this month (sorry, John!).
Did I mention I loved Marfa? Click here to see our photos.
