So last time I had just gotten us to Marfa. After what seemed like forever (driving in Texas is always a trip, and I don’t mean that in the literal sense), we finally spotted the town on the horizon.
We entered on Route 90 and soon saw buildings around us. Marfa is a bit of a shock. There are parts of it that feel terribly old, and a little sick, and rather sad. You see houses that are falling apart, stores that have been boarded up for years, and buildings in serious decay.
But, you also see a great deal of new growth and vigorous repair. Houses are being rebuilt everywhere (and we learned from David that there is considerable influx here. People are moving in from all over, buying homes that might have been falling into pieces, and then turning them into something remarkable). New shops have appeared on major streets. There are new cars, and some expensive ones, among the much used, high milage, held-together-with-ducktape-and-bailing-wire pickup trucks on the street.
We cruised along until we came to the city square. There were several things of interest to be seen there -- among them, the town’s large and rather impressive courthouse. I remembered then that Marfa is, among other things, the county seat of Presidio County. The town is, therefore, a center of government.(1)
About the photos: First and second: these are not just abandoned cars on the streets of Marfa. Rather, they are some of the informal art installations that just appear in Marfa without warning. (I think. Could be wrong.) Anyway, they are near The Marfa Sentinel on South Abbott Street. You can see Martha in the third picture. The fourth picture, as per norm, has nothing to do with the story. This is us celebrating Martha’s birthday this year down in Georgetown.
The other building we noticed right away was the El Paisano Hotel, which is near-by.(2) This is a rather lovely building, done in Spanish Revival or Spanish Colonial style. In other words, it has the look of a romantic hacienda.(3) According to Wikipedia, it dates to the 1930s, when it primarily served cattle ranchers who came to town “to buy and sell their herds, and tourists who came to West Texas for the benefits of the dry desert air.” Note that last. Once again fresh air and TB tourists appear.
Speed up to the 1950s, and the Hotel gets another role in history. It was to Presidio County that George Stevens came to film _Giant_, the adaption of Edna Ferber’s book of the same name. Many of the cast and crew -- including James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Sal Mineo, Chill Wills, and Jane Withers -- had rooms at the El Paisano.
The Hotel keeps the memory of their stay very much alive. We visited the place later on. Let’s just say that it is a rare wall that doesn’t boast a still photo from the film, or a head-shot of one of its stars.
I gather the Hotel has had its up and downs since _Giant_. But, it is now again in operation and seems to be doing well. More about the El Paisano later.
We set out then to find our AirB&B. We were having some trouble getting connectivity on our cellphones, but eventually we got enough of a signal to get directions. Soon, we found ourselves up one road and down another, then we saw the house. It was a pleasant looking place, a single story adobe, and the kids’ car was parked in front of it.
We parked, too, and soon we were all together. The kids and grandkids all looked great. We unpacked and exchanged stories. How had their Christmas been? Ours had been fine. Oh, the bandage on the hand? Well, that was a funny story. There was this broken handle on a dairy case and one thing had led to another.
I don’t know when we noticed it, but we did eventually. It was Martha who put it into the words, later on, in private. The kids and grandkids looked, she said, tired.
It made perfect sense. They had just spent several days at the other grandparents. They’d been away from home for almost a week. The grandkids had not slept in their own beds (or bed and crib) for all that time. They had not seen their friends, their school buddies, or their toys. And their parents, David and Emily, were doubtlessly, if maybe subconsciously, thinking of all the things they needed to get done at home and at work.
In retrospect, perhaps we should have planned it better. We were delighted to see them, and I think they were happy to see us, but...maybe it would have been better if they’d had time to be home, time to get chores done, time to recover from Christmas. Maybe we should have bowed out of New Year’s, and suggested another holiday for our get-together. Thanksgiving? My birthday in February? Well, whatever. It was too late for us to worry about it right then.
We unpacked and put away the groceries...including the dang milk carton which had caused me so much grief. We asked the kids what they wanted to do about supper. They said they had a plan. They were going to take us into town to one of their favorite spots, a pizza place, where we’d get some take-out and bring it back to the AirB&B.
Great! We said, and shortly we headed out. Little did we know that, in true Marfa fashion, it would be a pleasant evening...
But really, seriously, and unmistakably...kinda weird.
More to come.
Footnotes:
1. For more on Presidio County, see its wikipedia entry here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidio_County,_Texas
2. The El Paisano Hotel also has its own Wikipedia entry. You can see it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Paisano_Hotel
3. For more on Spanish Revival style, go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Colonial_Revival_architecture
Copyright©2024 Michael Jay Tucker
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