More Marfa Texas

We headed toward the Rio Grande to take in more of the Big Bend country. We found the ghost town of Shafter. Once a bustling silver mining town, it boasted a population as high as 4,000 at its peak. The official census in 2000 had the population at 11. Between the lead and silver mined here, over $20 M (in currency of that time) of ore was extracted before the mines played out, and the town was abandoned.

On our drive we passed the exclusive Cibolo Ranch, off base to anyone not a current guest. Were told in town that big names such as Mick Jagger fly their private jets into this high-end place, complete with landing strip. They never see Mick in town, but they do occasionally see his son James. Back in Marfa we had lunch at Marfa Burrito, but pretty much only because Matthew McConaughey and Mark Ruffalo are both big fans.

The quirkiness of Marfa apparently attracts the rich and famous. This building on the town’s main drag is owned by Lance Armstrong. Apparently, Lance rents the lower floor out to artists who have galleries to quirk it up a little bit more. The second-floor lance rents out for events or shows, and part of it he will even rent out as an extremely high-end Air BnB.

Built in 1930, the El Paisano Hotel is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is best known for being the location HQ for the 1956 film Giant, the last film in which James Dean acted prior to his untimely death. We made sure to snoop around the beautiful grounds, but nobody would tell us which room James Dean stayed in.

Finally, we visited the Chinati Foundation, a modern art campus envisioned by Donald Judd, and containing collections of his work as well as works of other modern artists. We walked the grounds which displayed 15 untitled concrete works by Mr. Judd. Each concrete “box” used in the works is 2.5X2.5X5 meters. As you can see, there are more than 70 “boxes” making up the 15 works, and they cover a space that is longer than two football fields.

Talk to you soon!