If you want to stay in the park, the lodges ▼ Culture Road Most Traveled Is Big Bend worth the eight-hour drive from Dallas? BY LAUREN DREWES DANIELS E ight hours in a car is a long time. It’s especially daunting when Love Field is an easy conduit to any number of beachside resorts with a swim-up bar, in about half that time. But none of those places are the wild, mys- terious and hauntingly beautiful land of Big Bend National Park, which sits right here in your very own WAY-back backyard. The con- trast of the Chihuahuan Desert and the stun- ning Chisos Mountains all carved by lava and ice and ocean is bizarre and stunning. The park itself is pristine. Packs of javelinas trot around and coyotes yip at night. The stars outnumber the people there 10 quadrillion to one. The isolation is refreshing. So, short answer: Yes, Big Bend is worth the drive. After a couple of trips here are some tricks to doing it well. Take off the night before. Sweetwater is just west of Abilene, about a three-and-a- half-hour drive from DFW. It’s a good stop- ping point with pretty cheap (and clean) hotel rooms, plus the free hot breakfast at the La Quinta is legit. So, plan on leaving around 6 or 7 p.m. the night before your real vacation begins, paving the way for a more manageable four(ish)-hour drive the next day, which means you’ll be pulling into Ter- lingua around noon, giving you plenty of time to explore that day. After you blissfully get past Midland and Odessa you’ll dive south and the landscape quickly changes. It’s nothing but fields with oil and gas equipment poking out of the land. White trailers and trucks are the only inhabitants, and they’re either pumping oil or meth or both. If you feel like checking out Marfa, hold through for lunch at Marfa Burrito, a very casual local spot (cash only). If you’re a fan of Schitt’s Creek, you’ll love this funny little town; there’s even an apothecary. Wrong Marfa is a boutique of mid-century tchotchkes, curated jewelry, art, books and $400 charcuterie boards. Esperanza Vintage and Art is a resale shop that’s a bit flamboy- ant. If you’re there in the evening, check out the restaurant at the historic Hotel Paisano. After all that, the drive from Alpine Texas to Terlingua, which is a tiny town on the west side of the park, is one of the most beautiful drives I’ve ever been on. There’s one point where you’ll descend into the des- ert floor and it literally has a steady stream of dirt devils skimming the land. There will be a lot of “Wow, look at that, take a picture,” on this portion of the drive. What you decide to do once you hit Big Bend is a toy box of options. You can drive for three days and still not see it all. You can hike trails in the desert or mountains, or take a canoe down the Rio Grande with a guide as Anthony Bourdain did (he also ate at Marfa Burrito). But the highlight tour in- cludes a one-mile hike down the Santa Elena Canyon. Do this. Walls of limestone soar 1,500 feet above a sliver of the Rio Grande. It’s magnificent. (See photo at top.) If the river is running low enough you can We bring sophistication with a twist to the metaphysical and holistic markets with products, classes and services. We have locations in Dallas, Carrollton & Frisco. Psychic Hotline Now Available: 888-415-6208 WWW.SOULTOPIA.GURU BEST OF DALLAS AWARD WINNER Santa Elena Canyon at Big Bend National Park. Lauren Drewes Daniels wade over to Mexico. We also hiked the Chimney Top Trails past some rolling hills that lead to sandstone rock formations carved by time and wind. From the chimney stacks, we could see Santa Elena Canyon and a whole bunch of beautiful nothing. Big Bend National Park operates a border crossing to a tiny Mexican village called Bo- quillas. We’ve never been, but we met a cou- ple from Indiana who had gone recently and loved it. You’ll need your passport to visit. They have small boats and ferry visitors across the river, then it’s a short walk to the village where a park ranger told us the entire economy is based around visitors from Big Bend. Go hungry. And thirsty. It’s the only place within an hour that serves beer. We planned late for one trip and stayed at the Desert Air Motel in Sanderson where the only place to eat was the gas station across the street. We got ramen noodles and popcorn for dinner and oddly loved it. This is just sort of how it’s done out here — you make do with what you have and honestly it’s sort of a relief. Another time we stayed in a lotus tent at Basecamp Terlingua, which was cool, but we also weren’t crazy about it because the tents are very close together and people (from Dallas) pile in two or three kids in with them, so what we thought was a quiet couples’ glamping retreat turned out to be a tent stay in the middle of a playground. S 8 Visit us: 900 W Davis St, Dallas • 3414 Midcourt Rd #100, Carrollton 7004 Lebanon Rd, STE 106, Frisco, Texas 75034 a fe have an old-school Clark Griswald-trip vibe. Or camp in a tent if you’re hardcore like that. Sleeping under the stars in Big Bend will likely be a night you’ll never forget. You’re at the center of it all here. Again, pickings are slim for meals. We tried to get into the Starlight Theatre in Terlingua one night, but they were packed so we went to Taqueria el Milagro and had some dang good enchiladas and guacamole. The gas station in Terlingua has a café and a nice staff who will help you find whatever else you may need. We packed two of their breakfast tacos for a hike one morning and they were great. Oddly, the trip back never feels long or dreadful because at that point you’re so mes- merized by the constantly changing and im- mense landscape. It’s so desolate you’ll drive for hours and not see anyone. Except for a state trooper, who will pull you over for do- ing 81 in a 75. Also a border patrol officer will soon pull up behind him along with another unmarked forest green truck with tinted windows. (Three trucks for six miles over the speed limit is a little weird. But the trooper was nice, checked our license and insurance then let us go with a warning.) Our last night in the desert southwest we went up to Fort Davis and stayed one night in the rustic Indian Lodges in the Davis Moun- tains. There’s more hiking to be done here, and people who are good planners should book a spot at a star party at the McDonald Observatory. Here, reservations book months out. We’d had a long day so just headed into town for more dang good enchiladas and OK wine (BYOB) at Cueva de Leon. It’s highly recommended for your trip back to avoid going back through Midland and Odessa again. Instead hit Interstate 10 and set your Waze to Brady,. Brady is the geo- graphical center of Texas. Stop for lunch at a restaurant on the square called Joe’s Italian Restaurant and order the stromboli. This honestly was the best stromboli we’ve ever had and the bread rolls and a plate of chicken Murphy were equally as good. We rolled back into Fort Worth at the l y S same time President Joe Biden did, his mo- torcade creating an absolute traffic night- mare. The last 20 miles of the trip were almost comical. A guy was so mad about the traffic he got out of his car, slammed his door as hard as he could then got back in his car. We all need to get out of town every now and then. Maybe leave tonight. hop n lin e 1 dallasobserver.com | CONTENTS | UNFAIR PARK | SCHUTZE | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | MOVIES | DISH | MUSIC | CLASSIFIED | DALLAS OBSERVER MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2014 MARCH 31–APRIL 6, 2022 DALLAS OBSERVER CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS dallasobserver.com 2020 O
