Attractions and other places we visit.
Some bonus aerial photos from my drone of the Marathon Motel and RV Park and the small town of Marathon, Texas, and some pictures of stars from our site:
Marathon:
This park is in a dark skies area, so there were lots of stars visible (photos just from my iPhone with a 10-second night mode):
An assortment of pictures of Marathon and Marfa, Texas and surrounding areas.
In Marathon, we had lunch at the V6 Coffee Bar:
The only (very small) grocery store in Marathon, The French Co Grocer:
We got some BBQ from Brick Vault Brewery & Barbecue:
An interactive map of a drive to Keesey Canyon Hoodoos for a picnic lunch, then Fort Davis National Historic Site (as seen in the previous post), and Marfa:
Keesey Canyon Hoodoos picnic area:
Welcome to Marfa sign:
The Giant Marfa mural, a tribute to the 1956 James Dean/Liz Taylor film “Giant“:
We enjoy quirky roadside attractions.
We visited Fort Davis National Historic Site in Texas. As the NPS site says, “It is one of the best surviving examples of an Indian Wars’ frontier military post in the Southwest.”
The NPS map; click or tap to see more on their site. The red-roofed buildings on this map are now ruins, often just foundations, but the others are mostly intact, with some furnished:
Entrance:
Gift store:
Museum exhibits:
Officers quarters:
Exhibits:
Commissary:
Officers quarters:
Hospital:
We visited Big Bend National Park, again — we first visited it in 2022. That first time, we explored the western part of the park; this time, we explored the eastern side.
Here’s an interactive map of our route:
Entrance sign:
Mountains and cacti:
We had a picnic lunch and short stroll at Dugout Wells, a little oasis where some homesteads once stood, and now just a windmill remains, as far as we could see:
Tunnel:
The Rio Grande Village Visitor Center, the one visitor center we didn’t make it to last time:
Big Rivers, Big Changes:
There’s even a full-hookup campground in the village, though it’s basically a parking lot:
A roadrunner on the road:
There’s also a no-hookup campground, which is nicer, despite the lack of utilities. It even has some sites big enough for us, like this pull-through site:
Interesting rocks:
Lots of Mexican trinkets for sale; this area is on the border with Mexico:
We did the Boquillas Canyon Trail along the Rio Grande river:
Steps:
The Rio Grande river; the other side of the river is Mexico:
Shady tunnel of trees, welcome on a warm day (about 82°F):
More Mexican trinkets for sale; Jenn bought the cloth in the front and a bead roadrunner:
The canyon closing in on the river:
Youngsters on the Mexican side of the river:
Canoes on the river; we spoke with a couple of the people, and they said they were camping down river:
A nice hike; a little too warm for us with little shade, but we survived.
Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas to all who celebrate.
To mark the occasion, here’s a post out of sequence. We stayed at Galveston Island State Park in Texas in early December (posts coming about that in January). While there, we visited the Festival of Lights at Moody Gardens.
Merry Christmas!
We visited McGinn’s PistachioLand Home of the World’s Largest Pistachio. A fun roadside attraction that we saw in passing a couple of years ago, but got around to visiting this time.
PistachioLand:
Nutastic!
We re-visited White Sands National Park in New Mexico. We first visited in 2022, but enjoyed re-visiting this year. As the NPS site says, it’s like no place else on Earth, the world’s largest gypsum dunefield.
The official NPS map; click or tap for full-size (and more info):
Visitor Center with the historic sign from before it became a National Park:
Road between sand dunes:
Picnic area:
Sand dunes:
During our travel to Las Cruces, we stopped at Bowlin’s “The Thing?” Travel Center for lunch (as mentioned in the travel post), and of course we had to explore “The Thing?” museum, another fun roadside attraction. The idea being WHAT IF… aliens have manipulated human history?
Cheesetastic fun.
We re-visited the two units of Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona. We first visited in early 2022, but that was before Jenn was doing her National Parks passport book, so didn’t have a passport stamp for this park. Plus it’s nice to re-visit parks, especially ones we particularly enjoy like this one.
An interactive map of our route, starting with the west side (and a stop at a Subway to pick up some lunch for a picnic):
West-side entrance sign:
West visitor center:
When we visited last time, they were limiting the bookstore to 10 people at a time due to COVID restrictions (but without masks by then), but this time there were of course no restrictions, though it wasn’t super busy:
Fascinating timeline of growth of a saguaro cactus:
Jenn got her passport stamp:
Exploring a dirt road with saguaros and other cacti:
We stopped at the amusingly-named “Sus Picnic Area” for lunch:
Our picnic site:
Back on the dirt road:
After leaving the park, an undulating road:
Through the scenic Tucson Mountain Park, also with lots of saguaros:
East entrance of the national park:
East visitor center:
A saguaro outside the visitor center:
Along the cactus forest scenic loop in the park:
A nice park. There’s something about cacti and desert landscapes that we really enjoy.
On the other side of the I-8 freeway from the Encore Pilot Knob RV Resort was the Museum of History in Granite, along with the Center of the World, the Maze of Honor, and the Church on the Hill.
One could consider this a kitschy roadside attraction, and it is that, but it’s also a lasting testament to the passions of one man, wanting to record history in stone that’ll last for centuries. Reading about his history is interesting: born in France in 1929, moved to the US at age 11, became an investment banker, bought a war-surplus plane and learned to fly, then invented the sport of skydiving (or “sport parachuting”), and finally created the “town” of Felicity in 1985, establishing it (via a fairy tale he wrote) as the Center of the World, and created the History of Humanity in Granite. Read that history page for details.
An interactive map:
Sundial, using a sculpture of Michelangelo’s Arm of God from the Sistine Chapel:
The official center of the world:
Selfie in front of the pyramid that encloses the Official Center of the World:
Jenn standing astride the Center of the World:
Looking from the pyramid past the Museum in Granite to the Church on the Hill:
Replica half-scale Liberty Bell:
The Maze of Honor, where people can pay to have granite memorials (it’s mostly empty):
Stairs from the Eiffel Tower:
Certificates for visiting the Center of the World:
