SAD NEWS

I really hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm afraid my computer is dying. A few months ago Hubby commented on the fact that my laptop would no longer shut all the way, and seemed to be getting worse. He went online to see if anyone else was having that problem, and found lots of company. It seemed to have something to do with the battery swelling or expanding. Ominous, no? Then, in the last couple of weeks, I noticed that it was taking longer and longer for my computer to boot up when I turned it on each morning.  So, just to be on the safe side, if the computer should die completely, hubby decided to copy all my photos onto an external drive. Yesterday I thought it was dead for sure, but after one full hour it finally came on. I was so excited that I'd actually be able to finish up my posts about our most recent adventure, before taking her in to the Apple hospital to see if she was curable. Only, when I opened my photos I discovered that, not only were the recent trip pics missing, the last two or three years were missing! And Hubby wonders why I am such a technophobe. I just think that if you do the exact same thing every time, you should get the exact same results, right? But noooooooo. Technology doesn't work that way.

Anyhoo. He found me slumped over my computer, banging my head on the desk, and felt so bad for me that he loaded all the photos he took of the adventure onto a thumbdrive and stuck it into my laptop. Let's see if I can figure out what to do with it!

Here are a few images from the next two days of our West Texas adventure, exploring Marfa and Alpine from our base in Marathon, despite the epic heat wave that hit, causing temperatures to soar up to 103 or higher and afternoon blackouts to occur both afternoons, which lasted into the night. Believe it or not, we still managed to have a great time!

So Many Extraordinary Dwellings, Everywhere We Looked

Loved the historic Hotel Paisano in downtown Marfa,

Stopping by to check out El Cosmico, which is owned by the same lady that owns several of our favorite quirky boutique hotels in Austin and San Antonio.

Are they giant cooking vats, or hot tubs?

At El Cosmico, you can choose from Teepees, Tents, Yurts, or Vintage Campers to stay in. Just make sure the one you choose has AC, if you come in the summer!

The area around the old Holland Hotel in downtown Alpine, just across from the railroad station, is where we found the best shops and galleries of all three towns. Plus, it was just a short walk from the wonderful Reata Restaurant, -- sister the the Reata in Ft. Worth --  where we lunched on their legendary Texas cuisine. I recommend asking for a seat in the bar area, which wraps around this magnificent old tree, and looks out on a beautiful patio and wall mural from the movie Giant, where they got their name.

Well, wish us luck on the computer repairs/replacement, or it may be a while before you see my next post!

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.

 

CAN YOU CALL IT AN ADVENTURE...?

Hubby and I both took so many photos on our latest adventure that I'll have to divide them up into two or three posts. I think I'll start with the B&B where we stayed, which was an adventure in and of itself. Honestly, you could go there and just never leave the grounds except for food. Although, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure one could last at least 24 hours on what they feed you for breakfast. Welcome to Eve's Garden, in Marathon, Texas! Does this scream Becky T. Lane, or what?

Private Patios Outside The Rooms, With A View Of Distant Mesas

Below is the atrium garden, which most of the rooms open into. There was also a laundry room and a hospitality room, where one can make a pot of tea or get a cup of coffee to enjoy while waiting for everyone else to wake up.

Then there was the pool...

the firepit/barbecue area...

and the star-gazing rooftop, where pretty much everyone ended their days, guests and hosts alike.

Surprisingly, for a couple of introverts, one of our favorite parts was gathering around the sumptuous breakfast table each morning in the main house -- albeit with total strangers -- because all we had to do was sit and listen, to get all the very best tips about where to go and what to see and eat!

Sure, there was the problem with the power going off each afternoon, due to the epic heatwave that hit right as we got there, and the occasional tarantula spotted in the atrium, but hey! Can you really call it an adventure, if nothing ever goes wrong?

P.S. Be sure to follow the link above to their website, and read all about this amazing eco-structure, built from something called papercrete, by the owners themselves.

47 ADVENTURE-PACKED YEARS

Well, the little towns of  Marfa and Marathon, Texas would probably not have even crossed my mind were I to be thinking of ways to celebrate our 43rd wedding anniversary. I mean, it's not as if either one of us would even consider hiking in Big Bend, right? In fact, I'm fairly certain my brain would not have wandered past going for a nice dinner somewhere close by. Nonetheless, Marathon is where we are going. Why do you think I call my hubby Adventure Boy?

John The Rat Hunter

Wow. Forty three years. Add to that the four years we dated before tying the knot, and that's one heckova adventure! I know I've shared the story of how we met here several times over the last ten years, but it's been quite a while since the last time, so here it is for you newbies. And, if you'd like to read about some of our most epic adventures, in those early days of marriage, just hop on over to Miss Becky Goes Abroad -- the blog where I recorded all the stories I could remember of our first three years of marriage, living in Indonesia on Java, and then in Bahrain, as well as another three years in Indonesia with our young kiddos, this time on the island of Sumatra. Just click on the square brown "Miss Becky Goes Abroad" button over there in the sidebar, to the right of this post.

John, just before he goes airborne and loses his innertube on an engineer's version of slip 'n slide.

You can hear about our adventures in the wilds of west Texas when we get back!

A TINY HOME COMMUNITY COMES TO WIMBERLEY

The Muses and I have long been enamored with the new ideas popping up for nursing home alternatives -- ingenious ideas for aging out. We especially like the ones where friends band together and each build their own small home on one piece of property. We know it's not the place to be when you can no longer do anything at all for yourself, but it could be a great way to maintain your privacy and dignity up until that point, while still having help at hand in those temporary times of need. Needless to say, when Spirit Woman said she had seen a flyer mentioning a place called Hummingbird Lane Tiny Home Community, right here on the edges of our little town, well, of course we had to go check it out. So, we sent a message to owner Rose Burke-Duncan, and she agreed to a meet-up.

We expected to get maybe 10 or 15 minutes of her time. Instead, she spent the entire morning with us!

This 12-acre property has four sites, two of them already occupied. Turns out, however, she owns more property in the same community, and when she finished showing us this one, she was kind enough to show us that as well.

This is where she built her own not-tiny-but-small rock house, every stone gathered by her from this property.

She will soon have this house rented out, as she recently remarried and they have nine kids between them, so they're going to need a bit more space when everyone gets together -- especially when the grandkids start coming! Not only did she offer us a peek into the house...

she also gave us a tour of her bountiful garden and orchard...

and sent us home with pockets full of peaches, as well as some great tales about her amazing, wild, adventurous life!

She's nearing completion on a tiny house for this property as well, which she plans to rent out. Could it be yours? Contact her at zenroze@gmail.com.

P.S. Did I mention that both of these properties are in a community with river access?