Okay, last time I had us having a lovely dinner after a not so lovely experience of the Mooey-kind. Which is to say, BOING BOING BOING...
Anyway, the kids were up early to leave for home. In fact, they were up so early that I had to go get Martha out of bed so that she wouldn’t miss them leaving. The kids didn’t want me to “disturb” her, but I knew that if they left without saying goodbye to her...and I hadn’t gotten her up...the result would have been World War III with a side order of invasion from Mars. And we’re talking both laser canons *and* killer tripods here. Not just your normal little H-bombs or anything.
So, I got her up and she said goodbye. And, soon after, they were on their way. They were planning on driving all the way back to Austin in one day. When you’re younger you can do things like that. For us...you must be joking
So there we were. Suddenly the AirB&B felt very quiet, indeed. And lonely. We would have happily settled for a few Boings right then.
Anyway, we finished packing, I straightened up the AirBnB, and, then we, too, were on our way. We were in less of a hurry than the kids, so our plan was to tour Marfa a bit more. First, though, we needed breakfast. After some debate, we settled on The Sentinel, at which you’ll recall, we’d had lunch with the kids.(1)
About the photos:
First, a couple of interior shots of the Hotel Paisano. You can see it is a dramatic place. Second, the Christmas tree at the hotel. If you look closely at the ornaments, you’ll see that they contain pictures of the stars of the movie Giant.
Finally, a shot of Martha in the Hotel’s Garden/Courtyard.
A little later, we parked and made our way into the place. Once again, we made our way through the shop, the art gallery, the books for sale, and finally to the counter where we were to place our order. The clerk regarded us with some distaste and was really rather rude, come right down to it. We were not surprised. Indeed, we had expected it and weren’t even offended, really. The reality is that a town like Marfa is full of creative types who moved here in search of inspiration. But, between bouts of creativity, they have to work someplace. But they don’t have to like it.
Thus it is you will sometimes find yourself standing in front of a rising, daring, dashing, revolutionary, Neo-Vorticist, Suprematistic, Chainsaw sculptor who is not exactly tickled pink to be taking orders for scrambled eggs from Bourgeoise Betty and Bob from the Burbs.
One amusing thing. She took our order for a couple of egg sandwiches. And we paid for them. But, somehow, the order got tangled up along the way, and when they called out our number, we each got a whole breakfast instead. Out of the kindness of our hearts, we took the (much more expensive) full breakfast rather than make a fuss. Just the kind of sweethearts we are.
After that, it was back to the Hotel Paisano, which we wanted to tour in the daylight. It really is an amazing place. If you are ever in Marfa, do give it a glance. If we’re ever back in Marfa, we’ll probably try to stay there.
Anyway, the architecture is fantastic, and there are a number of fun little shops and an art gallery inside. We toured those, bought a couple of small things (gifts for the kids and g’kids), and then explored the lobby. At that particular moment, the hotel still had its Christmas tree set up. I looked at it more closely and realized that many of the ornaments were transparent plastic spheres containing photos of the actors and actresses from the movie Giant, which you’ll recall has connections to the Hotel. So, there, next to a colored light or a bit of tinsel was James Dean, or Elizabeth Taylor or Rock Hudson or...well, whoever.(2)
We then drifted out into the Hotel garden. This, too, is an extremely attractive place, with a large fountain and cypress trees. We spent a few minutes there, enjoying the setting and the sunshine on a chilly day, and then, we decided it was time to go. It seemed like a good idea to end our visit on an up note.
Not long after that, we were on our way. I’ll spare you all the details of the trip home. Suffice to say we basically repeated our steps, and pretty much the same things happened on the way back as on the way in...except I managed NOT to slice myself up at Walmart.
And that’s the story of our trip to Marfa. I should end it here, but I realize there is a bunch of things I left out, and should have talked about, but didn’t. In particular, I never mentioned the “Marfa Lights.”(3) Nor did I ever refer to the “Prada Marfa” installation. (4) And, well, on and on and on...
Guess I’ll just have to go for a repeat visit and do another series.
Except...this time...
Someplace warm.
And without bouncing cows.
Stay tuned. We’re off on another trip very soon.
Footnotes;
1. You’ll recall that the Sentinel is a cafe, a gift shop, an art gallery, and ...whoa...a newspaper. And it is actually a pretty darn good newspaper, really. I’m looking at a copy of it right now. I’m impressed. It covers the local news thoroughly and well, and there is no sign of USA Today disease -- trying to boil everything down to six words less or less because somewhere, somehow some MBA or management consultant decided they hated literacy and figured everyone else should too.
2. An aside, several movies have been filmed in the Marfa area. In addition to Giant, _There Will Be Blood_ and _No Country for Old Men_ were both partially filmed there. And, no kidding, an episode of the Simpsons was set in the town. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marfa,_Texas#Media
3. The Marfa Lights are mysterious lights which are said to appear in the sky just outside of town. There’s even an official viewing platform where it is said that you can see them. Romantics attribute them to UFOs or psychic phenomenon. Skeptics to headlights reflected from Highway 67. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marfa_lights
4. This is a fake Prada Store in the middle of the desert outside town. It is generally, if not always, interpreted as a critique of consumer culture. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prada_Marfa
Copyright©2024 Michael Jay Tucker
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