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Marfa

way out there, west texas

By Elias Julian

June 6^th, 2018

hard to get to, harder to explain

When we were planning this trip to Marfa it was tough to find a comprehensive story or list + photos of how to spend a few days in this weird, art-filled, sleepy, delight of a West Texas town despite all I've heard about it. And after going, it kinda makes sense. It's a thing ya have to go experience. But here's my attempt at consolidating our few days in Marfa including some things we did and places we went, plus the road trip there and back.

In-N-Out 4 lyfe

EL COSMICO, HOME FOR A FEW DAYS

El Cosmico is a campground in Marfa with shelter options including safari tents, yurts, airstream trailers, and self-camping. We stayed in an airstream for a few nights.

shrug yep, marfa...

Do Your Thing has good coffee, a very trippy painted wall out front, and probably has tasty toast (if you can get there early enough to snag some.) We were a few minutes too late, and they were very apologetic with an air of acceptance and peace about the apology like this is a thing that just happens all the time. Sourcing fresh bread and good veggies in West Texas is just a tough thing to regularly do, and that kind of ~mañana~ mindset is something that runs through the whole town. It's a special kind of beautiful. Squeeze is a great place for a smoothie and a sandwich, or breakfast before 11a. The Get Go is a perfect little health-ish grocery spot to pick up a few snacks and things for your travels.

2 prada marfa we go

The infamous Prada Marfa installation by Elmgreen and Dragset is located just north of Valentine, TX which is about 25 miles north of Marfa. But, driving is a delight on those West Texas desert roads. Snapped a photo of lesser-seen back side of Prada Marfa, not much to see tbh but the textures and colors are nice just like almost everything else out there.

Davis mountains state park

Right after Prada Marfa, we took the scenic route back through the Davis Mountains, and that thing really tests the limits of the term scenic route. It is b e a u t i f u l and you should totally do it, but man oh man is it long. So good though!

chinati foundation

Donald Judd is basically the patron saint of Marfa. 15 untitled works in concrete at the Chinati Foundation is essential Marfa. Minimalist art contrasted with the West Texas desert.

food shark

Food Shark is tasty. You should go there and get the special. And a falafel just cause. Open Wed to Sat, Noon to 3p.

good boi

The late afternoon light in the desert is p h e n o m e n a l and the golden hour is soooo goooooood. This golden doodle is also very good.

🏆🏆🏆

*totally not a Subaru ad **unless you want to holla atcha boi, Subaru

see mystery lights

We seen't em! (not pictured here unfortunately) The first night we got to Marfa we were both reeling a bit from headaches and hunger, possibly from altitude as Marfa is real high up there on par with Denver, or maybe just from driving for two days. But we grabbed some food from Bar Nadar, which also has a pool, and headed out to the viewing platform a few miles south of town. And we saw them! At the time we didn't realize how lucky we'd gotten, but we went back the next few nights to no avail and heard from a few locals that the lights truly only come out a few nights a year.

Aliens. If you've never heard of the Marfa mystery lights before I only have one thing to say, aliens breeeehhhhhh. They were first spotted in the late 1800s by a cowboy who thought the lights were Native Americans, but after investigating realized there was no explanation. Still to this day they exist, and despite looking like headlights or refracted lights from a nearby town, there are no roads or towns anywhere near the direction from which they come. There are also a few stories about them being classified as a level 3 security threat by the u.s. government and a core reason behind the Marfa Air Force base closing (story in the book pictured)