On our way outta Dodge on Sunday, we drove past the now-notorious 40-foot neon Playboy logo and, er, Dodge Charger in the middle of the desert. The art installation went up quietly in June on the outskirts of Marfa, and it wasn't long before disapproving locals filed a complaint, calling licensing and permits into question. Is it art or advertising? Stay tuned for the bunny's fate.
Caving in
We decided to cut the drive home in half with a stop at the Caverns of Sonora, a National Natural Landmark about 8 miles west of Sonora, Texas. There, we descended 155 feet into the damp cave on a guided tour through over two miles of passageways. The "show cave" was discovered at the turn of the 20th Century and opened to the public in 1960. On our hour and a half hike underground, we admired an impressive combination of live stalagmites, stalactites and helictites throughout a maze of dripping formations. Go there. It's spectacular.
A more just, verdant and peaceful world
Overlooking the gorgeous expanse of verdant Jeff Davis County, West Texas, USA.
The campfire crooner
Q. How can I rustle up some fine fireside entertainment?
A. Sit around a fire with Dan Dyer on guitar.
The East Texas-born musician is a regular at the Continental Club in Austin. This weekend, he’s hanging out with Chef Lou and his crew, lending a hand to pitch in or poach some eggs. When I asked him how he describes his style, he called it “a combination of country, folk and soul.” And that’s just what we got on our last night out in West Texas. In his cowboy hat, overalls and boots, this Texas troubadour had everyone's full attention as he strummed through half a dozen original songs. I’ll take a concert sponsored by that voice any day of the week.
Camp cookin': Sunday brunch
The bunkhouse at the ranch
After a few breezy hours in a hammock and some ping pong at Planet Marfa, the local biergarten, we hopped in the car with some new friends and headed north to the Lambert Bunkhouse on Saturday night. The family’s ranch home sits on a hill in between Marfa and Fort Davis overlooking the gorgeous expanse of verdant Jeff Davis County.
First, a demonstration on from-scratch focaccia. Dough goes into dutch oven. Dutch oven is placed atop half a dozen hot coals. Cast iron lid goes on top of dutch oven. More hot coals are placed atop the lid. Twenty minutes later you have ready-to-eat oily onion flat bread.
Dinner:
- Onion focaccia
- Grilled asparagus with cherry tomato relish
- Cesar salad
- Gold garlic potatoes
- Ribeye, rare, with cremini mushroom relish
- Rack of lamb, rare, with chimichurri sauce
- Apple & blackberry cobbler a la mode (below)
Shelter
Behold our sweet digs for the weekend. We had a slumber party with just about every insect in the state.
Camp cooking 101
We met with Chef Lou and the group at 10 this morning in the kitchen of El Cosmico, where he demonstrated the particulars of poaching a chicken, how to prepare the perfect ancho chili sauce, the low-down on chicken tortilla soup, and how to trim a tenderloin down into proper fajitas. Then, we learned how to pack a cooler for camping. Tip: Pack marinated meat well in large Ziplock bags and then submerge them in ice in the bottom half of your cooler. Top the meat with a piece of cardboard cut to size. Then, layer any dairy and produce above the cardboard barrier. The separation helps keep your highly perishable items icy cold below, and prevents your produce from wilting in transit.
Next, we headed outside for further demonstration on how to cook over a fire pit, where a sous chef seared the marinated fajitas. We sat under an oil pipe pergola while Chef Lou prepared Spanish rice, a chopped salad and the most divine little dessert I’ve had since my culinary adventures in Italy.
Lunch:
- Chopped salad with black sesame seeds &toasted almonds
- Spanish rice & pinto beans
- Beef fajitas (rare) with bell peppers and onions
- Grilled Texas peaches on a slice of toasted pound cake and topped with powdered sugar and whipped cream
Extreme hammocking
And also the perfect writing spot. @El Cosmico, Marfa, Texas, USA.
Well Alpine it is.
A wily roadrunner skipped across our path this morning. A charming rainbow stretched across the sky. Perhaps Mother Nature was apologizing for the Pandora’s Box of insects she unleashed upon us the night before. I’ll take it.
Now let’s eat.
After two highly anticipated stops at two highly recommended establishments – both closed – we begun to understand the anything goes “manana” philosophy that’s ingrained in the West Texas culture. So in lieu of breakfast at Squeeze or Cochineal, we grabbed a couple of iced Vietnamese coffees at Frama and (for lack of any other options) settled for a couple breakfast tacos from Stripes. Egad! I suppose we should thank the Laredo Taco Company for their commitment to feeding the starving weekday tourists of Marfa. And with a full day on our hands until it was time to meet back at camp for dinner, we decided to take a day trip to Alpine, Texas: Est. 1882.
A happy accident.
First stop: Big Bend Brewing Co. We popped in to press our luck with hours of operation and were pleasantly surprised to find the fledgling brewery is only open on weekdays. WIN. Moreover, a friendly redheaded woman and her brewmaster boss offered us a private tour and tasting. Yes, please!
As we sipped each of the five micro brews on tap, she told us about a popular hiking spot behind Sul Ross State University, so Hancock Hill is exactly where we headed next. After an hour and a half hike up and around the hill and its unruly mobs of fire ants, we had to stop and admire Alpine's "Alps." That’s me on the left in the photo below.
Tip: Maybe don’t check out a brewery tasting and then decide it’s a good idea to hike 400 feet up into the mountains sans inhaler. Just call me Lil Wheezy.
Next up: A shared lunch of piled-high brisket fries at The Saddle Club, where Mister Wonderful was delighted to discover his favorite summer brew on tap: Mexican Lager. We said goodbye to Alpine after picking up a couple of juicy snow cones at the Murphy St. Raspa Co., and headed back to base camp in the middle of a majestic West Texas downpour. Rainbows all around.
Base camp
Back at the El Cosmico camp Friday night, we met Chef Lou, his crew, and 17 fellow camp cooks who hail from Illinois, Virgina and across Texas. He welcomed us to fair Marfa with a lovely Friday night feast.
- Fresh lime margaritas
- Shaved pork butt tacos with a honey chili glaze and cabbage
- Hatch chile relleno swollen with cheddar, jack and Texas chevre
- Shrimp and pineapple quesadillas stuffed with corn pico de gallo
- Carmelitas, a divine little brownie full of oats, pecans and dulce de leche caramel
Miles and miles of Texas
Perhaps they're not stars.
Tonight, we drove up to McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains of Fort Davis, Texas, for a "star party." Pictured above (courtesy of Marty Harris) is a day-time view of the large telescope domes. In the top left corner, the Hobby-Eberly Telecope dome sits atop Mt. Fowlkes. In the foreground, the dome of the Otto Struve Telescope is at left, and the Harlan J. Smith Telescope at right, atop Mt. Locke.
The observatory is a research site for The University of Texas at Austin, but also a teaching hub for public education and outreach. On this Friday night, the clouds were too dense to see the stars with the kind of clarity one would expect at 6,790 feet. The observatory folks suggested instead that we check out an in-house astronomy lecture, complete with colorful close-up images from the super-powered telescopes on site. Fortunately, by the time we’d gotten up to speed on nebulae and supernovas, the clouds had separated enough for us to get a clear view of the Big Dipper and a few billion of its compadres. In light of such serendipity, we also managed to get a good look at Saturn and its rings from one of said super scopes.
At the observatory's highest point, we found a cluster of benches -- perfect for supine stargazing. There, we took a long look at the gorgeous expanse of sky, peppered with countless heavenly bodies of beaming light. In nearly total darkness, a sweet contentment tapped me on the shoulder. Celestial beauty has always brought me intense solace. And it showed up tonight.
When a particularly bright star flickered and caught my eye, I couldn't help but think of that old Eskimo adage. “Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.”
My mind went immediately to my grandmothers, who I’d like to believe were offering their girl a few winks of approval.
The Facilities
The temperature dipped a bit overnight so the air was crisp and sleep was solid. But between the train whistle and the dueling church bells, sleeping in meant 7:30 a.m. Every morning, there’s a line to get into this two-person bath house by 8, so rising early actually works to my advantage. However, at 75 yards away from our tent, any 2 a.m. calls of nature must be addressed with a flash light and a prayer.
Sorry, we’re closed.
"Closed" was the theme of our first two days in Marfa. We hit the road for West Texas Thursday morning in anticipation of a long-awaited culinary weekend of camp cooking, hosted by Chef Lou Lambert. It’s also decidedly convenient timing. A year ago this weekend, I met Mister Wonderful.
We learned pretty quickly that this sleepy little town only rises to the occasion on weekends, so this foodie’s search for our first dinner and breakfast here was thwarted by one too many “Sorry, we’re closed” signs. The local pubs? Same story.
Moral: Don’t come to Marfa before Saturday and make sure you leave before Monday if you have any aspirations for culinary or cocktail greatness.
The road out west
Thursday, we made a quick lunch stop in Fredericksberg at the Peach Tree to procure a couple sandwiches: A fried green tomato BLT for yours truly. And a lovely jalapeno pimento cheese sandwich for Mr. W.
A few hours of hilly driving terrain later, we stopped in Balmorhea (right) to cool off with a dip in the San Solomon Springs, a sweet spring-fed pool that hovers around 72 degrees year-round.
Slippery algae coats the sides and bottom of the pool, so I took full advantage of the opportunity to regale Mr. W with a half-submerged ode to the Ice Capades.
Afterward, we drove through the Davis Mountains (below), also known as the “Texas Alps.”
The second highest range in the state was apparently formed 35 million years ago after a couple of volcanos erupted and the magma solidified into the vertical strata that’s makes up the existing crags.
Base camp
Once in Marfa, we checked into our safari tent at El Cosmico, a trailer park-campground-hotel space just down the road from the main drag. El Cosmico is playing host to our cooking camp, too, so it made sense to make the site our digs for the weekend. Mister W called it an extension of Austin in the middle of the desert.
El Paisano
We grabbed dinner at Jett’s inside El Paisano Hotel, made famous by its role in the movie “Giant,” starring Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean and Rock Hudson. (The three-hour epic is worth the time commitment.) For the beau, a pistachio-crusted fried steak smothered in jalapeno gravy and accompanied by mashers and broccoli. 
I had the roasted veggie plate, comprised of Brussels sprouts, red peppers, spinach and zucchini. Not too shabby.
Thoughts on our first night in the safari tent: Bugs. Everywhere. Huge ones. Moths, ants, spiders, beetles. Flying things. And I can handle those. But roaches? Oh hell no. Let’s just say I slept with one eye open. I think that after this trip, I will have become a little more desensitized to the crawlies. Mr. W thinks otherwise.