Monday, October 9, 2017

Well, after two days in wacky Marfa, we decided we needed a change of pace.  We spent the morning at Ft. Davis and Davis Mountain State Park. I love the Davis Mountains!  We toured the fort and then drove up the switchbacks on the mountain to the scenic overlooks.  It was beautiful.

After lunch we stopped at the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Garden.  Last week, in Tucson, we were in the Sonoran Desert and now we are in the Chihuahuan Desert.  This is considered high desert at 5,000 ft. elevation. It was a beautiful nature center, well laid out and very informative. We hiked through the small area near the visitors center today, but tomorrow we plan to go back and hike the Modesta Canyon trail. One of the best things about all of the things we did today is that Jax was allowed to go with us. Everything was dog-friendly, even the fort.

Saturday and Sunday, October 7&8, 2017

We arrived at our next camp site in Alpine, TX, another nice camp ground.

For several years Michelle and Rich have been telling us about Marfa, Texas.  It is a quirky little artist colony in the middle-of-nowhere, Texas. We finally made it and I have to say that quirky doesn't begin to describe it.  First we toured the Chinati Foundation. It is a museum consisting of 15 buildings and covering about 340 acres.  The founder of this and the Judd Foundation was Donald Judd, a minimalist artist.  Most of his works (and some others whose work is displayed here) needed lots of space for their art.  So Judd bought an old army base for this purpose. Judd also bought several buildings in town for more spaces. Some of Judds sculptures are displayed in the field and consist of 15 concrete boxes. When I asked the docent what they represented she told me they are not representational art.  They are spatial art. It is all about the space and the individual and the collective. Hmmmm,Okaaaay. Then we saw two huge building of aluminum boxes by another artist.   Two other large buildings had smashed car part sculptures. Another building housed the featured work of a new artist: all the walls were painted in stripes. That's it, just stripes on the walls. I can't begin to describe all of it. We toured several other galleries in town that had smaller works of art, but all of it was unusual. After the ragged toenail collection, I quit. Oh we did see El Cosmico, the wacky, but cute, campground with yurts, tepees and funky painted, refurbished airstreams. Wow, Marfa was definitely something to see!

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Once again we took advice from TripAdvisor, and decided to go to the tiny Zuhl Museum.  After spending an hour searching the New Mexico State University campus, we finally found it.  Closed for renovations!  Ok, on to Plan B. We went to the Old Mesilla Historic District.  This is a cute little old town situated around a square.  It has many shops, cafes, and galleries, similar (but much smaller) to Albuquerque Old Town.  One of my favorites shops is the Heart of the Desert Pistachios and Wine store. I also found a cute shop with some unique southwestern t-shirts that I love.

Have you ever seen water tank murals?  Las Cruces has several. I think it is really clever to turn an ugly water tank into a piece of Art.

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Taking advice from TripAdvisor, we decided to go hiking at Dripping Springs Desert National Monument. Only two trails allowed dogs, so we chose Fillmore Trail. A short .9 mi hike turned into 2.5 miles. We didn't take enough water and it got pretty hot. The hike and view was beautiful, though. The clouds sitting on the mountaintops were spectacular. However, I think Jax got overheated. When we got back to the camper around 2:00, he slept all afternoon and evening.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

We took one last walk on the trail in the Western Way RV park saying goodby to the pomegranate tree. We then left for Las Cruces, NM.  About an hour outside of Tucson, we came to a area of huge boulders and rocky hills.  Once again I am amazed at how quickly the terrain can change.  About 5 miles later we were back to flat desert. Strange!

We arrived in Las Cruces in the late afternoon. The RV park is nice and, thankfully, has a good dog run for Jax. On the advice of a friend, we found a small local Mexican cafe for supper.  Well, I have to tell you that our gringo tongues are not up to the fiery New Mexican cuisine!  Our eyes were watering, noses running, sweat dripping off our foreheads and I am pretty sure steam was coming out of my ears!  We had to rush home for a bowl of orange sherbet to cool our mouths. Whew!