Marfa was described to us as a quaint but vibrant artist community, unexpectedly located in Western Texas. We stopped there overnight as part of our long journey to Sedona, AZ, and although we probably wouldn’t describe it as vibrant, we were still able to meet a ton of interesting people and get ourselves into a bit of a sticky situation…
*Complete Marfa Google Map List*
Also I finally figured out how to insert videos in Substack so prepare yourselves for that.
Logistics
Here’s the broader situation: From Austin, our next monthly stop was San Diego. That’s a whopping 1,300 mile drive - nearly equal to what we’ve already done to this point, and the equivalent mileage of driving from NYC to Miami.
Needless to say, doing that in a weekend, although possible, wasn’t really appealing to us - so we wanted a good layover spot, preferably in New Mexico or Arizona.
And in the spirit of this whole year, we wanted to go somewhere interesting, but since we work during the week, a camper van in the desert wasn’t going to cut it.
That said (and as ridiculous as it might sound when thinking about it in April) we were actually on a relatively tight schedule in order to make it back East for the holidays, so we really only had one week to spare.
Sydney said she wanted to go to Sedona, AZ because “it looked cool”. Sedona is in the northern part of Arizona and would ultimately add ~300 miles and ~5 hours of driving to our total Austin-San Diego leg, but how could I argue with her logic?
Just like that, Sedona was chosen as our 1-week layover to San Diego.
Now, where does Marfa fit in? There are 2 feasible routes from Austin to Sedona. The first heads northwest through Lubbock, TX and Albuquerque, NM while the second heads directly west towards Tucson, AZ and then north to Sedona.
We were originally planning to take the first route with quick overnight stops in Lubbock and Albuquerque because it’s technically more direct and plus, Breaking Bad.
However, we were strongly recommended from several Austin locals to take the second route and layover in a small artsy town in West Texas called Marfa. Neither of us had ever heard of Marfa, and it would ultimately add over 100 miles and 1.5 hours of driving to our trip, but that’s essentially the spirit of this whole trip, right?
So to recap, our 1,300 mile, 19.5 hour drive to San Diego evolved into 1,600 miles over 25 hours with overnights in Marfa and Tucson and a week layover in Sedona. And since this whole thing revolved around logistics, I was in charge of planning all of it… but I had to agree with Sydney - it did all “look cool”.
What Is Marfa?
Marfa is a small desert town of fewer than 2,000 people located in western Texas. It was founded as a railroad town in the 1880s and technically peaked in the 1930s but is now known for minimalist and contemporary art, stargazing, and being a popular destination for those traveling to Big Bend National Park.
It was also home to several well-known movie productions in the 1950s such as High Lonesome and Giant.
Art
Marfa is known for its art and has tons of studios and foundations, including the Chinati Foundation and Judd Foundation. Admittedly, that’s not really our thing, but Sydney wanted to go to at least one exhibit and even though I didn’t really want to, it was one of those things that after nearly 14 years together, I knew not to push back on.
We attempted to walk through the Chinati Foundation outdoor exhibit and just failed miserably. Our admission tickets were essentially donations because our pea brains just didn’t get it.
Plus we were only 10 minutes in before I saw a snake and then it was just game over. And it wasn’t just a little garden snake - it was bright red and roughly the size of a Basilisk and it easily could have eaten us both.
Maybe it was the adrenaline, or maybe it was not seeing the blocks of concrete as anything more than just blocks of concrete, but we both knew we didn’t belong there and gracefully exited the premises.
We did get some cool photos though, maybe?
Prada
Marfa is also known for the Prada Marfa art installation which is ironically located about 26 miles west of Marfa, technically in Valentine, TX. The building was designed to be a Prada storefront in 2005 as a “pop architectural land project”.
I don’t know what that is but I do know enough about Prada to know it looks funny all by itself in the desert. At the very least, it gave Kona a chance to model.
I also parked on an anthill by accident when we pulled over here. I didn’t know until I got out of the car and the damage was already done.
There’s nothing really more to that - I just didn’t know what to do except apologize? Like hey guys, sorry I wrecked your civilization - guess you’ll have to rebuild from scratch. Maybe try somewhere that’s not on the only road and next to the only thing worth stopping for in a 50 mile radius.
Where We Stayed
We’re obviously big Airbnb people, but for overnighters, I typically still favor hotels. However, I stumbled upon this place which was cheap, dog-friendly, and was very centrally located. The only weird thing was that the bathroom didn’t have a door and was just around a small corner from the bedroom - pretty weird but doable for a night.
[see the link at the very end for our video recap and you can kind of put it together for yourself]
Dinner & Drinks
We departed from Austin on Friday afternoon and made it to Marfa in enough time to check-in, drop off Kona, and get a quick round of drinks before dinner.
Planet Marfa
Planet Marfa was on our way to dinner and was recommended to us for the ~vibe~. It was loaded with games, activities, and unique spaces like ping pong in an adobe hut, a hollowed out school bus, pool, darts, and even ring toss. It also had a bunch of art and generally weird stuff around.
The most memorable for me though (of course) was the huge bug we saw by the security camera. Look at that thing - it’s bigger than the snake!
Jet’s Grill
After Planet Marfa, we headed to Jett’s Grill at the Hotel Paisano, which formerly served as the headquarters for Warner Bros during the filming of Giant in 1955 and consequently became a popular hangout spot for the cast and crew for more than 6 weeks. As a result, the hotel (and restaurant) have a bit of an old Hollywood feel and it even has a Giant memorabilia room.
It was a beautiful night and we were seated right next to the fountain.
After Jett’s, we had two bars on the list. They were in opposite directions so we chose the closer and more normal looking one and headed out to discover the streets of Marfa were essentially deserted. It was Friday at 9pm but we felt like the only ones there!
To top it off, by the time we got to the bar, we realized it was closed, like permanently. Instinctively we reached for our phones to find an alternative…no signal (shocker). Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be and we should just go get a good night’s sleep before another long day of driving tomorrow.
We started heading to our Airbnb in clear defeat when all of a sudden we heard it…
The Crash Of The Century
Remember in New Orleans when the sound of angelic singing made us unconsciously enter The Hideout Bar like cartoon characters floating towards a cooling pie on the window sill? Well it was like that, except instead of floating into a public bar, the sound of this live music was coming from a clearly private event…
We were able to sneak through an alley behind a hotel and catch a glimpse of the band playing in a beautifully decorated and clearly fenced-off courtyard. They had a full sound system, lighting, and dance floor, and they were legitimately very good.
Another quick glance showed about 20-30 people in attendance. Surely this had to be a wedding, but another glance revealed apparel far too casual for that. Perhaps it’s a corporate event, but on a Friday night all the way out in Marfa? No chance…
We kept peeking around the corner like we were trained spies silently gathering intel on a critical mission, while simultaneously trying to build up enough courage to confidently round the corner and enter the event as if we belonged there.
Fake it till you make it, right?
But every time one of us started to walk in, we quickly retreated in fear before we could even be seen.
We headed back to the street and were in the middle of our 10th should we or shouldn’t we conversation (and shouldn’t we was winning) when those iconic first four notes of Tennessee Whiskey rang out through the speakers.
We should.
We headed back to the end of the alley, blindly appreciating the talent and waiting for the perfect moment to slip inside.
Suddenly a man started walking up the alley, heading directly towards the event like he belonged there.
Did he belong there or was he merely doing the same thing we were previously contemplating?
Regardless, this was our chance - we could follow him at a distance and slip in behind him without anyone noticing.
In silent deliberation, Sydney and I agreed. We followed him around the corner, through the gate, and into the event.
We stood by the entrance taking it all in. There were a few chairs, a bar in the back, and most people were gathered around the band. But there was also an inflatable pool complete with a rubber ducky in sunglasses - where on earth were we?
We were quickly noticed by a woman whose eyes told us she knew the guest list.
At the same time I noticed the man we had followed in, and who we were hoping belonged no more than we did, started tinkering with the band’s sound equipment and wires.
We followed in a member of the band…how stupid could we be?
The woman was nearly upon us and we realized we were caught. There was no way out and we didn’t even last 2 minutes.
Me: “Excuse me, is this a private event?”
Her: “Yes.”
Me: “okaysorrybye”.
We immediately turned to walk away in pure shame and embarrassment when we heard her say “No, stay!”.
She took me by the arm and before I could even comprehend what was happening, we were at the bar with drinks in our hands meeting her family.
As it turns out, this was a 50th birthday party for family and close friends…which now apparently included us.
We were crashing a 50th birthday party in Marfa, Texas.
We ended up staying for the next couple of hours talking about Texas and swapping stories with this family as if we had known them our whole lives.
We were even indoctrinated into the “Dalegators” which was one of the guy’s fraternity groups at Texas A&M. And we have the cups to prove it.
It was one of those nights that we will truly never forget. And not because we successfully “crashed” a party - the memorability of that night has nothing to do with us and everything to do with that family.
They didn’t have to offer us drinks and hear about our lives. They didn’t even have to let us in. In fact, I think most other people would have promptly asked us to leave, including myself if the roles were reversed.
It reminded me that most people in this world are decent and some, when given the chance, are extra special. That family is extra special to us and I’ll be forever grateful to them for giving me and my wonderful wife a lifelong memory. Hopefully we cross paths again sometime in the future.
Dalegators For Life
Marfa Video Recap
^Check out the comments for some extra entertainment. Sydney mislabeled the drive time from Austin to Marfa and got straight up bullied online^
Well, that’s a wrap on Marfa. Time for a nice, uneventful drive to Tucson…
…or so we thought. The desert apparently had other plans…
What fun memories you two are making! Greg, your writing makes me feel like I was there! So much fun!