Cross Country – 4 (Texas)

Leaving Oklahoma it was on to Dallas, Texas. Although we had lived in Dallas for 12 years, it was 25 years ago! So much has changed, yet, so much remains the same. We did the nostalgic drives through our “old” neighborhoods taking pictures of our prior two homes. The bulk of our time, however, was spent meeting with friends over meals catching up.

We stayed at The Mansion on Turtle Creek, which has been the standard for Dallas hotels. We have somewhat of a “history” with this hotel. The first time I came to Dallas I wanted to have lunch at The Mansion and Steve wanted to visit the former home office of the insurance company for which he worked. It turned out that it was the same place! The Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek was originally built as a private residence by the King family in the 1920s. “The owners, inspired by worldly travels, embarked on a tour of Europe with their architect, curating antique pieces, authentic fixtures and luxurious materials.” The King family fell on hard times, and, the mansion was sold and converted to company headquarters. In the 1960s it was occupied by Gulf Atlantic Life Insurance Company, for whom Steve worked at the time. He visited the home office four to six times per year for a period of time. In the late 1970s The Rosewood Corporation purchased the estate and transformed the estate into a world-class restaurant and hotel. The Mansion Restaurant opened to rave reviews in August of 1980, and, it instantly became the place to see and be seen in Dallas. We had more than one special event at The Mansion over the years we lived in Dallas.

Dallas has always been a city in which to shop and dine out at restaurants, being both plentiful and very good. It is also a city in which a car is essential, although apparently public transportation has improved over the years. It is a surprisingly easy city to navigate in spite of its size because it is laid out on a grid.

From Dallas we drove on to Austin, the capital of Texas, primarily because we had never really been to the city. We stayed in a very popular area on Congress Street at a new hotel called Hotel Magdalena, which was wonderfully situated just off Congress Street and surprisingly green.

As it started pouring rain, we sat on the outdoor chairs and read and watched the rain until dinner time. Then, being lucky people, we walked literally next door to a Mediterranean restaurant called ABA, which was very, very good.

Leaving Austin we drove through Hill Country where we had spent many a weekend when we lived in Dallas, either on the lakes or enjoying the various small towns. However, we were amazed at the number of vineyards/wineries, some of which had quite impressive tasting rooms that now were everywhere. We had not time for tasting wine as our goal was to get to Marfa, a small town in western Texas in the middle of nowhere with great hopes of seeing the Marfa Lights.

Arriving in Marfa we checked into our hotel, the Saint George Hotel, a new addition to Marfa. However, the hotel long known in Marfa is The Hotel Paisano, which was built in 1930 and touted as “the most elegant hotel between El Paso and San Antonio.” It became even better known when the film GIANT was filmed in 1955 with Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean staying there. Other movies filmed in the Marfa area were No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood.

As I mentioned, our reason for coming to Marfa was that we wanted to see the Marfa Lights, also known as the Marfa ghost lights. There is a viewing area 9 miles east of Marfa that has been set up specifically for observing the lights. The mystery lights have been well documented by scientists and celebrities, but, no one seems to know why these lights appear. Unfortunately, they do not always appear, and, Steve and I, along with about 99 other people were very disappointed that we did not get to see them. Pictured below is Steve at the structure built specifically for people to view the lights. The picture of me is looking out onto the viewing area, hoping to see the lights after dark. Then, following is a picture taken from the internet, just to confirm that lights actually appear.

Marfa is a tiny town, but, the Marfa lights have attracted so many people that they fully support two hotels, both very nice. An interesting aside is that while we having dinner at LaVenture, the restaurant in the Hotel Saint George, there was a big group of young men having dinner there as well. It was a very diverse-looking group, some looking like bikers with major tatoos and others very “clean-cut” looking. We finally asked our waiter who they were, and, we found out they worked for the Border Patrol. Seeing them outside after dinner Steve asked about the border situation. Their response was that it is worse than we know.

Leaving Marfa and on our way again, there was one more surprise. On Highway 90 about 30 miles northwest of Marfa, there is a permanent sculptural art installation called Prada Marfa. It was the “brainchild of Berlin-based artistic team Elmgreen and Dragset.” Miuccia Prada was actually consulted on the project and handpicked the merchandise for the “store’s interior” and allowed the artists to use the Prada logo. The grand opening was October 1, 2005, and “the perplexed press spread the news across the country.” There is no explaining some things.