Not just another ghost story

October 4, 2008 4:09 PM

Its Fall and a perfect time to make a road trip. Its more than just a hip movie location, Marfa, Texas is home to bizarre food options and of course the world famous Mystery Lights.
posted by shockingbluamp (16 comments total)

Thought the lights were just car headlights.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 4:16 PM on October 4, 2008

I don't buy the car headlights theory. There's no roads where the lights show up. They hover and grow in size, sometimes in groups of 3... it's really something else. I was out there at 4AM once, there were no cars anywhere. It's very isolated.

I was just talking with a friend today about Marfa. It's magical out there. Simply magical. I'm biased of course since I got married out there last February in their lovely courthouse.

Giant was filmed out there too. Cute short about the locals and Mr. Dean.
posted by dog food sugar at 4:40 PM on October 4, 2008

I was in Marfa last year on the way to hiking in Big Bend. Pretty strange place. Like a concentration camp for art. Didn't see no aliens neither.

Is the "pizza foundation" restaurant still there?
posted by fourcheesemac at 4:49 PM on October 4, 2008

Alpine is more interesting. and the drive to McDonald Observatory, is breathtaking. But Donald Judd, took over and started the Chinati Foundation. Artists like, John Chamberlain, Dan Flavin, and Claes Oldenberg have made their mark. It's still kick ass, but for real West Texas intimacy.. stick with Alpine.

p.s. I was born there.
posted by Benway at 4:50 PM on October 4, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

When I was in Marfa, a stop on a fairly epic road trip, I ate a burrito at Sergio's Burritos (i think), it was a "Sergio Burrito" (that part i am fairly sure of), it had hashbrowns in it. It was SO GOOD. I had a fine time in Marfa for sure, all that art and all, but gods that burrito was so good. Long after we'd left Marfa, I would look at the grease stain on the dashboard of our minivan and sigh.
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 5:02 PM on October 4, 2008

also, David Foster Wallace (R.I.P.)
lived there for a bit.
posted by shockingbluamp at 5:05 PM on October 4, 2008

I moved to Texas in January and have been wanting to drive out to Marfa (West Texas in general) ever since. That said, this is a really shitty and lean post.

Thanks for the tip about Alpine, Benway.
posted by Roman Graves at 5:14 PM on October 4, 2008

I have a couple pictures from my trip out to west texas to fort davis, around the mcdonald observatory. It was too windy to drive up to it though. I still want to get back out there.
posted by puke & cry at 5:29 PM on October 4, 2008

Marfa lights ain't headlights. Just ain't. I seen 'em.

No, really, I have.

Also, negative points for not mentioning Donald Judd.
posted by mudpuppie at 5:52 PM on October 4, 2008

We should have a mefi meet-up at the Observatory for a Star party.
posted by dog food sugar at 6:00 PM on October 4, 2008

The Chinati Foundation
posted by louche mustachio at 6:45 PM on October 4, 2008

*It's* fall...
posted by BrotherCaine at 6:58 PM on October 4, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Marfa is definitely worth the trip. There's the Prada store all hermetically sealed up and spooky in the middle of nowhere.

The Judd Foundation maintains minimalist artist and architect Donald Judd's living and work spaces. The Chinati Foundation has a museum out there full of Texas-sized art.
posted by freshwater_pr0n at 7:06 PM on October 4, 2008

No mention of Sean Wilsey's story "The Republic of Marfa?" A very good summary of a pretty weird place. Minor spoiler: the town was named for a Dostoyevsky character.
posted by Gilbert at 11:53 AM on October 5, 2008

Huh. I thought There Will Be Blood looked familiar. I grew up in Sweetwater, Texas (a scant 5-hour drive from Marfa), home of the World's Largest Rattlesnake Roundup.

Pits of poisonous snakes, I tell you. Pits and pits. With people in them. Harleys, leather vests, and RVs as far as the eye can see. It ain't lights in the middle of nothing, but it's a mite more mysterious, if you ask me.
posted by nosila at 1:47 PM on October 5, 2008

I was there three years ago and liked it a lot. Can't wait to go back... (some photos)
posted by quartzcity at 11:08 AM on October 6, 2008