MARATHON,TX: POPULATION ALMOST 500

To get to Marathon we took the scenic route down Hwy. 90, through little towns like Del Rio and Langtry -- home of the infamous Judge Roy Bean. (Coming back home we cut over through Ft. Stockton and took I-10 most of the way home, thinking it would be faster. I guess it saved us a little time, but it actually felt longer - probably because it was so monotonous.)

The rooms were all like little igloos, with domed ceilings embedded with colorful glass, to let the sunshine through.

Once we'd had a little rest and got cleaned up, we headed over the historic Gage Hotel, located just across the alley from our B&B.

We heard it was about to be razed some years back, but then a guy who just couldn't bear to see that happen bought it for thirty grand and set about bringing it back to life. Boy, did he ever! We were a bit early for our dinner reservation so we did some exploring and had a drink in the White Buffalo Bar.

Dinner pretty much knocked our socks off. Hubby doesn't happen to share my love of fried oysters, but even he admitted that the oyster nacho appetizer with cracker garlic aioli, habanero salsa and cotija cheese wasn't half bad.

If only our BFF's had been there with us, they would have been moaning right along with me.

Hubby's tenderloin filet, however, got us both goin'. My quail was pretty good, but I just couldn't stop stealing bites of his steak! Everyone we talked to later at our B&B agreed -- it was the best steak they'd ever had. And then there was this.

Mexican Chocolate Brownie, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Homemade Cajeta Sauce

Needless to say, after that we needed a nice long walk to work it off. Unfortunately, that's kinda hard to do in Marathon, since the main street is only two blocks long.

After a stop at the awesome French Co. Grocer, a modern day general store which stays open until 9:00pm each night, we wandered some of the nearby residential streets -- just the kind of thing Hubby loves to snap photos of.

No idea how they get to their door through all the cacti.

We were most fascinated by this place below, which we could only glimpse through these little peepholes in their adobe wall.

There was a sign calling it the Captain Shephard House, so I googled it when I got home. Turns out it was built by the former sea captain who actually founded this town, naming it Marathon because the rugged terrain in this area reminded him of the area around Marathon, Greece. The main house and carriage house are now part of Gage Hotel, and you can actually stay there, if you're willing to fork over some bucks.