A surprising hidden gem in Marathon is Gage Gardens, a 27-acre park tucked away across the railway tracks from the downtown shops.
Rose garden, dormant in winter:
Lots of grasshoppers:
A painted cow:
A delightful garden in a delightful town.
exploring
Attractions and other places we visit.
Marathon Sky Park Star Party
Our neighbor at the Marathon Motel and RV Park hosts a star party each clear night, where he and another guy talk about the moon, planets, and stars, and show several of them through a couple of telescopes and high-powered binoculars for anyone interested (no reservation required, other than big groups).
A sign for the star party by the office:
The motel has a large area set aside for telescopes, with several concrete pads and a couple of small domes, plus a shed for a bigger telescope:
Our host, setting up the bigger telescope:
A photo of the moon, taken through the smaller telescope; rather blown out, but you can see the craters and mountains at the terminator line:
Sunset:
A bunch of people for the star party:
Using a powerful laser pointer to indicate stars:
People at the binoculars:
The two telescopes:
It was an enjoyable and fascinating experience. And so convenient, a short walk from our coach.
Marathon, Texas
We really liked the small town of Marathon in Texas (Wikipedia page). It has a population of just about 400, and was established in 1882.
We had lunch at the V6 Coffee Bar:
The one grocery store in town, The French Grocer, is pretty tiny and expensive, but had the essentials:
With cute little grocery carts, too:
They also had a wide selection of ciders; we bought four Texas Keeper bottles:
More buildings around town:
A train track goes through the town:
The post office:
A painted sign next to the post office:
Foot bridge:
Rail tracks:
Another foot bridge:
More buildings:
Texas etched in footpath:
Another day, we had dinner at Brick Vault Brewery & Barbecue:
Outside seating:
Inside:
Menu:
Bar:
The building used to be a Gulf gas station, established in 1939:
A view outside:
Our dinners, all very tasty:
And desserts, also tasty:
Outside:
Fire station:
Windmill:
Church:
Historic house:
Shops:
The Gage Hotel is the main feature of the town, in fact they own several other businesses around town:
On the road next to the RV park, an amusing UFO sign:
On our last day, we stopped by Big Bend Pizza:
A cute town. We’d be happy to visit again.
Big Bend Ranch State Park
We travelled along the Rio Grande river route through Big Bend Ranch State Park. This river marks the border between the US and Mexico.
Here’s an interactive map of our route and stops:
We first needed to go back to Fort Leaton to get a permit to access stops along the route, which was no additional cost thanks to having purchased a Texas State Parks Pass:
Then we headed east into the park, passing the road to the interior of the park:
Lots of interesting hills and views along the route:
Park sign:
A narrow single lane bridge during construction:
Hoodoos:
The Rio Grande river:
More roadworks:
15% grade:
Rio Grande river:
We stopped at a nice roadside picnic area for lunch:
The Rio Grande river was close behind the picnic area — and the other side of the river is Mexico:
Contrabando day use area and movie set:
Closer to the Rio Grande river:
The other side of the park, Barton Warnock Visitor Center:
The four deserts of the US; we’ve now been to all four:
We’re amused by “intrusive igneous deposits”:
Heading back:
15% grade:
Boats in the river:
Fort Leaton State Historic Site
We visited the Fort Leaton State Historic Site, literally a minute down the road from our campsite. It also serves as the western entrance of Big Bend Ranch State Park in Texas (which is distinct from Big Bend National Park, which we’ll visit from our next campsite).
Here’s a map of the fort from a self-guided tour PDF:
Outside:
Courtyard:
A ranger; we purchased a Texas State Parks Pass, since we’ll be in Texas over the winter:
Gift shop:
Exhibits:
A cart, or “carreta”, used to transport goods:
Corral area:
The walls in this area haven’t been restored:
Crumbly doorways:
Blacksmith:
Fireplace:
The “dungeon”:
Walls:
Kitchen:
Dining room:
Family parlor:
Trading office:
Formal parlor:
Nursery / family sitting room:
Courtyard:
Servant’s quarters:
Outside again:
A nature trail around the fort:
Cemetery:
A view of the fort from the trail:
An interesting historic site.
Taking a break; happy Thanksgiving
We’ve been taking it easy recently, not doing many interesting things, so I’ve caught up with scheduled blog posts; the next post will be travel to our current location, which I don’t like to publish until after we leave.
So, after doing a new post every day for the past year or so, I’m going to take a break for a week, ostensibly to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday week. See you on Monday the 28th!
(I will still do single-picture daily posts on my personal blog, if only for the Micro.blog challenge going on this month.)
I’ll leave you with this picture of a roadside attraction from that travel day:
Carlsbad Caverns National Park again
We visited Carlsbad Caverns a second time, this time to do the Natural Entrance and Big Room trails.
On the way, passing the Apache Canyon Trading Post:
And White’s City:
The Carlsbad Caverns sign:
Entrance road:
Again we had a picnic lunch by the visitor center:
The visitor center sign:
The path to the natural entrance:
We were stopped for the pre-entrance instructions from the ranger:
The bat amphitheater, where people can watch the bats leaving the cave in the evenings:
Heading down into the natural entrance:
An info sign; 1.25 miles, 750 feet of elevation change:
The natural entrance:
Reaching the junction with the Rest Stop and Big Room:
The Big Room trail:
Back to the Underground Rest Stop:
We bought a snack at the shop; the attendant was very chatty with info about the cave, visitors, bats, etc:
Back up the elevator:
The gift shop:
Jenn bought a bunch of postcards; she collects the WPA-style postcards, and this gift shop had an excellent collection, so she was able to get some missing and future ones:
A selfie by the sign, with a stuffed toy bat from the gift shop:
Sitting Bull Falls
We visited Sitting Bull Falls in New Mexico.
Some nice scenery on the way:
Lincoln National Forest:
Sitting Bull Falls Picnic Area:
A time capsule and info about the Civilian Conservation Corps:
Very nice picnic shelters:
Path to the falls:
Falls:
Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Just south of Carlsbad Caverns National Park, across the border in Texas, is Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
Passing through the town of Carlsbad again on the way there:
Cave people art:
We stopped for lunch at a tiny separate section of Carlsbad Caverns NP, Rattlesnake Springs Picnic Area:
They have a very nice picnic area in an oasis of trees, which we had pretty much to ourselves (only one other group in the distance):
Rattlesnake Springs sign:
This area has a spring that is the source of the water for the caverns:
Spring pool:
With fish:
Continuing on, we entered Texas:
Mountains:
A brief stop at the small McKittrick Canyon Visitor Center of Guadalupe Mountains National Park:
Then on to the main part of the park:
Pine Springs Visitor Center:
You know I enjoy 3D relief maps:
Inside the visitor center:
We walked along the Pinery Trail, about a mile of nature trail:
We took a look at the “campground”, little more than a parking lot (and too small for our coach):
We were impressed by El Capitan mountain:
A rest area and view:
El Capitan mountain again:
A quick spin along Frijole Ranch road:
Then back north into New Mexico, a much-needed carwash, and back home to our coach.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
We visited Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southern New Mexico:
The road to the visitor center:
We had a reservation for a ranger-led tour, so after checking in, we had a picnic lunch:
Back to the visitor center:
Bat artwork in the foyer:
The ticketing area:
There are two ways down to the caverns: elevators, or the natural entrance. This time, we took the elevators. They lead to the underground rest stop, with food, swag, and bathrooms:
We joined the ranger for our guided tour:
He was a bit of a character, with multiple philosophy degrees. That definitely showed in his talks, with discussions of paradoxes and raising questions about the caverns.
The tour we went on was the King’s Palace tour (the only one offered currently). It gives access to caverns not open to the general public, via this gate:
Heading down:
Stalactites:
The King’s Palace room:
The ranger passed around an old photo showing the room (sorry, not a great shot of it):
Through a tunnel to the next room:
The Papoose Room:
The Queen’s Chamber:
An actively dripping column; the ranger turned out the lights and we sat by this in total darkness for a few minutes, just listening to the dripping of the water:
A fossilized bat:
Telephone:
Back to King’s Palace, on the other side:
Green Lake (a small pool):
Heading up some stairs:
The end of the tour at the exit gate:
Looking down:
Old stairs:
Swiss cheese:
New York Skyline:
Info sign:
Back at the underground rest stop:
Rest stop shop:
Restrooms:
Another map:
Exit to elevators:
Elevators:
Heading up from 750 feet underground:
The elevators debouch into the gift store, of course:
An impressive 3D map of the caverns:
Jenn just hanging around:
Another gift shop and restaurant:
Gotta have her pressed penny:
Back outside the visitor center:
