January 2019 - Wanderwiles

Chisos Mountains Lodge in Big Bend National Park

“Casa Grande” rock formation towering over Chisos Mountains Lodge, viewed from the Chisos Basin Loop Trail with Cottage 103 center

For my first ever and long-awaited visit to Big Bend National Park, I wanted to stay in one of the five “Roosevelt Stone Cottages” belonging to Chisos Mountains Lodge, the only (non-camping) lodging within the park. While the Lodge has hotel- and motel-style rooms, the Roosevelt Stone Cottages are the most popular and book up “almost a year in advance” per the Lodge web site. I found this to be the case. Although some of the cottages were booked when I did a search last January, I was able to get one of my top picks, #101 by booking last January 19, one year and a few days before our arrival. Still, even with that lengthy pre-booking, we weren’t guaranteed the cottage of our choice since the Lodge reserves the right to change (should there be a maintenance problem, etc.). Upon check-in, I was happy to find we would in fact have the cottage I’d booked.

The cottages come equipped with three double beds, a private bathroom with a shower only, a small desk and a modest dining table, way more than David and I needed for the two of us, but what the heck. We planned to do this stay right and that meant a cottage. The cottage turned out to be spacious and charming, if not fancy, with stone floors, beamed ceiling, and an effective electric heater where a fireplace used to be. Two double beds occupied the main room and the third sits off in a separate, open side area. The cottage is equipped with a small refrigerator, coffee maker and microwave. There’s also a closet that was so cold it made a great wine cellar. Old photos of the park added a charming touch.

We were a little concerned when we first drove up to our cottage (clustered around a circular parking area with 2 of the other 3 individual cottages and 2 duplex-style cottages). Not only did our cottage not have a “private driveway” as I was told by the man who checked me in (probably in mistaken reference to cottage 100 which sits apart from the other cottages, closer to the motel area and actually isn’t offered for rent on the lodge web site), but there was only one parking space left. The space was thankfully right by our cottage, but on the opposite side from the stone sidewalk by which we would have normally approached. Oh well, we carried our luggage and ice chests the short distance and set them on our porch. No problem. Happily, it turned out that all the cars belonged to hikers who’d decided to enter the (7) trails from the spot near cottage 103 and they all cleared out shortly before dark. It was Sunday of a long weekend and we never saw that many cars again.

Speaking of cottage 103, that one is definitely the rock star/most-sought-after cottage at Chisos Mountains Lodge and it’s easy to see why. The cottage is identical inside to 101 (ours) and 102 but it faces the iconic “Window” and has a wide, covered porch (as does 102, which has a view of the Window from a yard area to the side of the cottage). See lead photo to this post. The only slight downside to 103 I could see was that a trailhead giving access to seven trails is just beside it and people like to start hikes there and to perch on a large boulder just by the porch of 103 to enjoy the view and take photos.

Our cottage 101 sits a bit apart from 102 and 103 and faces the far side of the canyon with a couple of the motel buildings in site. It has a smaller uncovered porch which actually turned out to be a bonus for us as we could set up our telescope on the porch and watch the full lunar eclipse over the “Casa Grande” rock formation that dominates Chisos Mountains Lodge.

View from the “front yard” of Cottage 101 with motel portions of
Chisos Mountains Lodge visible in the distance

Chisos Mountains Lodge has one restaurant just beyond the gift shop and registration area. The restaurant offers great views of the Window and opens onto a large terrace. Food turned out to be surprisingly good and not unreasonably priced considering the location. There’s an attached bar with television that played non-stop football while we were there. There’s also a convenience store not far away among the motel buildings.

View of “the Window” from our dining table at Chisos Mountains Lodge restaurant

Our cottage turned out to be just what we wanted: comfortable beds, lots of hot water (although the shower head is mounted laughably low), very quiet at night. The location, nestled into the Chisos Mountains Basin, is spectacular. There’s no wi-fi in the cottages or other rooms, although Comcast wireless worked for me as a domestic roaming option on my T-Mobile-serviced Samsung Galaxy S9+ Android phone. Service wasn’t very fast and couldn’t load some things, but it was good enough for email, texts, map searches, etc. David’s S7 (also on T-Mobile) could not connect. That may have be a function of the phone or settings (although roaming was on), but we didn’t care enough to worry about it. We weren’t in Big Bend National Park to stare at our phones. There is wi-fi in the lobby/gift shop/restaurant area, but it was iffy. Again, Internet access wasn’t a big deal for us and we had a great stay.

Terlingua, Texas: Much ado about nothing

Heading to Big Bend National Park from Davis Mountains State Park, we made sure to make time for a stop-off in Terlingua, a former mining town known primarily for its eponymous chili cook-off (actually two cook-offs these days which take place on the first weekend in November). I’d heard about the Terlingua chili cook-off for decades and am the proud owner of a cookbook of championship recipes from the original event. The chili cook-offs draw upwards of 10,000 people to a tent- and camper-filled party in the desert. According to the town’s event calendar, Terlingua has also instituted a couple of lesser cook-offs including one for black-eyed peas and another for dutch ovens. Barring cook-offs, Terlingua is a desolate little town. I didn’t expect much, and a cook-off-less Terlingua turned out to be less than that. Oh well, all travel destinations are not created equal. If you’ve got the time, the turnoff to the Terlingua “Ghost Town” is about 5 miles west of Hwy 118 just north of a main entrance to Big Bend National Park. If you don’t have the time, no worries.

Terlingua has developed a sort of funky, artsy reputation, but it is mostly a motley collection of ramshackle buildings; an old cemetery full of broken crosses and beer bottles; mobile homes, cheesy teepees, and the like serving as tourist accommodations; and a few small businesses and eateries scattered across a rocky desert.

We made a quick swing through the one main store (not remotely tempted to buy souvenirs), peeked in the ramshackle old jail and walked across the parking lot to view ruins of early settler buildings that constitute the “ghost town,” all of which took 20 minutes or so. The Starlight Theater, a well-known spot recommended to us was closed at lunch time, so we headed to nearby guesthouse La Posada Milagro for lunch. We ate outside on their porch, enjoying the view of the mountains of Big Bend in the distance despite the unsightly clutter of Terlingua. My chicken quesadilla was actually very good and my husband liked his big chicken salad sandwich, too. The service was friendly and we were welcome to provide our own beer.

Post lunch, we made a short trip through the dirt roads of the town towards AirBnB teepees in search of clear inflatable domes that serve as rental rooms offering views of the starry skies abounding in this remote part of the world. (My cousin had sent me an article about these new additions to Terlingua, and we were mildly curious.) We found the turn-off to the domes which sit just over a small rise from the teepees with a sign asking us to go no further if we weren’t guests. Oh well, the search was nothing but a lark anyway.

Our last stop in Terlingua was the cemetery, as ramshackle as the rest of the town, but interesting nonetheless. Most graves are marked by rough board crosses although some are more elaborate and the cemetery is still in use. Typical Mexican skeleton-themed candles and trinkets decorated many graves along with flowers, beads, beer bottles and other mementoes.

All in all, I’m glad we stopped off in Terlingua just so I could see it for myself since it was such a short detour on our way to Big Bend National Park, but I can’t think of a reason to go back.

Attending a McDonald Observatory “Star Party”

Located in the Davis Mountains near Fort Davis, Texas, the McDonald Observatory is a research and education facility of the University of Texas. The observatory offers “Star Parties” to the public Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays throughout the year which are bookable online for a reasonable fee. While the observatory web site states that Star Parties often fill up months in advance, the permissible group size is large and I found 100+ spots still available several days before our Friday night reservation. Our January 17 date no doubt had something to do with the lighter crowd, but we chose the time of year deliberately to avoid crowds…and the sweltering peak-season temperatures in our ultimate destination, Big Bend National Park.

We were excited at weather forecasts predicting clear skies for the night of our Star Party, but that excitement turned to concern a couple days prior when we woke to find the forecast suddenly calling for high winds up to 45 mph. Yikes! Not what we had in mind, especially on a cold mountaintop at night. I immediately called the observatory and was able to change our reservations to Saturday night. It turned out to be a good thing that I called so quickly: Despite all those vacancies showing earlier, a sign on the door as we entered the visitor center Saturday night stated that the party was now fully booked. I talked to fellow Indian Lodge guests later who had been turned away.

With the restaurant at Indian Lodge closed, we decided to eat at the StarDate Café at the Observatory. As recommended in the email confirming our booking, we arrived an hour early since we wanted to eat before the Star Party. It’s a good thing we did, too. We snagged the last table and were able to get our dinner order in just before the line grew long and wait time jumped to 30, then 40 minutes. The café stays open for the first hour of the party, so guests arriving after us could come back to the café to eat during the party, but we were happy to eat and be done with it ahead of time. I slipped into the ladies’ room while we waited to pull on a pair of silk long underwear, an extra layer I was glad to have later as temperatures plunged outside. (I’d been worried it would be overheated in the cafe, but it was actually pretty chilly inside when we arrived.) The café opens to a large terrace with views of the observatory domes and quite a few tables that would probably be great in the summer or a mild winter day, but were out of the question for dining on a January night.

Right at 7pm, observatory staff announced the beginning of the Star Party and we were instructed to go outside to an open amphitheater for an orientation lecture.

Pre-viewing introduction at the outdoor amphitheater. Those stone benches are cold!

The initial lecture was brief after which we were invited to either go straight to the ten telescopes set up in the viewing park or remain for a more detailed lecture on constellations. We sat in the back to get ahead of the exiting mob and opted to go straight to the telescopes. We were glad we did. The speaker advised us that the domes which house the largest telescopes are particularly popular, so we headed to those first before more people arrived. We quickly made our way through all ten scopes, moving on if a line was long. There are telescopes of all sizes and shapes. We were there the night before a full moon, which reduced the visibility of the stars and constellations so more than one telescope was focused on the moon, the most powerful taking in just a portion of the moon and bringing its craters and peaks into sharp view. Another telescope that took in the entire moon was so bright that I had a dark after-image in one eye for at least ten minutes! Other telescopes were focused on the brightest stars since others were drowned out by the brilliant light of the moon. Still, it was cool to see things like the cloudy nebula in the sword of Orion and a pair of bi-colored twin stars. Overall star viewing was a little disappointing because of the extremely bright moon, but it was still fun and we had a full lunar eclipse to look forward to the next night in Big Bend National Park, so it was hard to complain. We were just finishing up at the last telescope when the lecture let out and a big crowd streamed into the viewing area and we realized we had had no idea what a long line was. I counted several lines that had quickly ballooned from 5 or so people to 22 or more.

Using one of the more unusual telescopes in the viewing park

The visitors center remains open during the Star Party so people can warm up, get refreshments, etc. A short film runs in a loop the entire time, there’s a gift shop, toilets and a child-friendly small museum.

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Practical info:

Cold is a real issue at the McDonald Observatory as temperatures at the observatory elevations (6300-6800 ft) can be much colder than below and the approximately 2-hour Star Parties take place mostly outside. Wear layers, hats and gloves, and the observatory encourages viewers to bring blankets which can be left in cars and retrieved if needed. Blankets or long coats are extra nice for sitting on the cold stone benches in the amphitheater. The Star Parties take place at the Rebecca Gale Telescope Park at the observatory and do not use the research telescopes higher up the mountain. Those telescopes are available on “special viewing nights” scheduled periodically throughout the year.

Prices for Star Parties are $12/adult; $10/military, 65+, and UT staff and students ; $$8/child 6-12; and, free for children under 6. Make reservations online for Star Parties, Twilight Programs, Day passes, Solar Viewings and special events.

The StarDate Café is located on site and serves sandwiches, quesadillas, tacos, snacks and drinks. The observatory recommends Star Party guests arrive an hour early if planning to eating there since crowds can be large.

Indian Lodge in Davis Mountains State Park, Texas

Indian Lodge in Davis Mountains State Park; the original adobe received a gleaming coat of white paint in last summer’s remodel.

Deciding where to stay during our much-anticipated McDonald Observatory “Star Party” came down to a historic hotel in downtown Fort Davis or Indian Lodge in Davis Mountains State Park. Highly recommended by friends, closer to the observatory, located within the state park where we wanted to hike, and newly refurbished as of summer 2018, we opted for Indian Lodge.

Built to look like a multi-level pueblo village, Indian Lodge opened to the public in 1939. The lodge boasts a big two-fireplace den/game room, a lovely pool and a restaurant with hit-and-miss opening hours. Our room on the upper level had windows on two sides and a now-blocked adobe fireplace in one corner. The ceiling consisted of large beams and twigs. Just what I had in mind!

Indian Lodge guests are welcome to build or stoke a fire in the “den” and make use of the games and tables.

Our first afternoon, we used the trailhead at the end of the parking area nearest our room to access the Indian Lodge Trail. The 1.5 hour hike along the ridge offers sweeping views back down to the valley where the lodge sits on one side and far beyond on the other side to where we could see the mountaintop observatory domes in the distance. High winds up to 45mph whipped across the unprotected ridge. We’d been scheduled for a “Star Party” at the observatory that night, but managed to change it to the following night to avoid the windy weather passing through. We returned to the road leading to the lodge via the Montezuma Quail Trail. The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department provides excellent trail maps with photos. The lodge restaurant was closed that night so we drove into nearby Fort Davis for Mexican food at Cueva de Leon, a casual spot that’s been in business for decades and was on a list provided by the lodge. The place is nothing fancy (in keeping with the rest of Fort Davis), but solid and traditional. It’s BYOB and we picked up a 6-pack of craft beer at the small shop across the street. The food brought back memories of similar restaurants of my childhood.

On the advice of the super-friendly lodge staff, we drove up to begin a hike on part of the Skyline Scenic Trail at the top rather than hike up along the switchback road. Views from vehicle-accessible lookouts are nice as was the hike, but it is very close to the road.

Indian Lodge boasts a nice pool…but it was way too cold in January for us to try it out.

Back at the lodge, we made use of iron tables and chairs on a terrace we shared with two other rooms for lunch-with-a-view before heading off to spend the afternoon in the town of Alpine (a 35 minute drive from Indian Lodge). We enjoyed leisurely following a brochure-guided walking tour of the historic town, stopping near the end for a spelt chocolate chip cookie break at a clearly-popular Taste and See Bakery.

Nighttime was reserved for the McDonald Observatory Star Party that I’ll write up in my next post.

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Practical info:

Reservations are available at Indian Lodge via the Texas Parks & Wildlife web site. Book well in advance, especially for holidays. Free wi-fi is available in the den and lobby area, but did not reach to our room (or any of the other rooms that we heard of). We did not have cell phone reception in the lodge (which sits in a valley) although staff cheerfully offered me use of their land line to follow up on a missing credit card. We did get enough signal for texts and some emails (and so probably calls as well, although we didn’t try) on high points of our hikes. There is a coffee maker in the room, but no fridge or microwave. Staff let us use the full-size fridge in the dining area for food we’d brought in ice chests. Our 1-queen bed room cost $259.60 for two nights ($230 + $29.90 tax). Camping sites are also available to reserve.

Trails in the park are well-marked and fun to hike although the ones within walking distance of the lodge and camp sites are not super extensive. There’s a 75-mile scenic loop for driving that has other trails along the way. A bear was spotted on one of these the week before we arrived. We saw small birds and hawks, but no large animals on our hikes, although there are bear, mountain lions, javelina and deer.

A week-long roadtrip to Big Bend kicks off with the historic Hotel Settles in Big Spring, Texas

The elegant lobby of Hotel Settles in Big Spring, Texas

I’m super excited about our upcoming week-long Texas roadtrip. As a native Texan with roots going back to the days when Texas was an independent republic, it’s high time I got myself to one of the state’s most iconic, unique and remote treasures, Big Bend National Park. I reserved one of the park’s coveted Chisos Mountains Lodge cottages a year ago and crossed my fingers that the weather would cooperate when the allotted time rolled around. A government shutdown didn’t even cross my mind back then. Fortunately, although Big Bend is a national park, the park is open, if unstaffed, and the Lodge is run by a private concessionaire, so we’re still a go. On our journey, we’ll also take in other Texas classics including a “Star Party” at the McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains, a stay in the “James Dean” room at the Paisano Hotel in Marfa and lots more.

Driving straight to Big Bend would take us about nine hours from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, and what fun is that? I wanted to break up the trip, but a first glance at the map showed the Midland-Odessa area to be a likely spot and those light-on-charm oil towns did not exactly inspire. When a little research showed outrageous prices for low-end chain hotel/motels in the area, I looked for alternatives and was thrilled to discover the historic Hotel Settles in nearby Big Spring. The photos looked charming and surprisingly posh and the price was great in comparison to the Midland-Odessa options. We had our first stop!

Big Spring boasts many remnants of the past, like these old gas pumps (with Hotel Settles in the background), in varying states of repair/decripitude.

The 15-story, 150-room Hotel Settles opened on October 1, 1930. The hotel was built by Will R. and Lillian Settles, following the discovery of oil on their ranch. At the time, it was the tallest building between El Paso and Ft. Worth. The Settles only owned the hotel for two years, being forced to sell it when the Great Depression hit and their oil profits fell.

The following years saw a succession of owners. The hotel’s restaurant, the Settles Grill, boasts of famous guests during that time including Elvis Presley, Lawrence Welk, and President Herbert Hoover, as well as Jerry Allison, a Big Spring native and drummer for Buddy Holly and The Crickets.

Although the Settles Grill looked good, the menu at nearby Lumbre appealed more to our personal tastes and we enjoyed a truly excellent meal there: seared tuna steak on lightly sauteed veggies for me and skewers of 8 big, bacon-wrapped shrimp and fish tacos for David.

Big Spring suffered heavy loss of businesses during the oil bust of the late 70’s and the hotel closed its doors in 1982. Over the next decades, the property fell into a derelict state until the local community began a preservation effort. A native of Big Spring bought the hotel in 2006 and invested $30 million in its historically-minded renovation. The original Grand Ballroom was fully refurbished and other rooms restored and given names honoring their regional history. Fascinating photographs throughout the hotel show pictures from Big Spring’s cattle ranching, railroad, and oil boom years as well document the amazing restoration of the hotel. The only negative to this comeback story we heard was from some locals we met at quirky Desert Flower Art Bar (a cool venue offering some of the only craft beer in town along with Texas basics like Shiner beer plus a selection of wine and liquor): Apparently, the Hotel Settles owner (a Fort Worth neighbor of Ross Perot) used no local labor in remodeling the hotel. Very disappointing to hear!

Wandering around town, we found an interesting mix of buildings from the early 1900’s (and a few from the late 1800’s) in various states, many clearly abandoned and in ill-repair, others renovated or in the process of being so. Money has obviously been spent recently in some restoration and Big Springs reminds me somewhat of a Fredricksburg wannabe, a town in decline trying to reinvent itself as a tourist destination. With charming old buildings, an infusion of new bars and restaurants, Big Spring State Park and nearby Midland-Odessa oil business, Big Spring has assets to work with.

Practical stuff:

I booked Hotel Settles seven weeks prior via an Expedia flash sale which got us a 1-queen bed room for $109.95 ($97.30 plus taxes & fees of $12.65). A quick check of Expedia a few days prior showed all 1-queen bed rooms sold out and the cheapest remaining room (a 2-queen bed room) offered at $254+$33.02 tax & fees=$287.02! A few moments after that Expedia search, the Hotel Settles web site showed only an “historic suite with parlor” available for $224.00 + $29.12 taxes & services= $253.12. When I checked in, the lady at the front desk was on the phone quoting similar prices to someone who understandably declined to book. It pays to plan ahead and keep an eye out for sales!

Our room is charmingly redone with excellent bedding and the old bathroom “chicken wire” and subway tile restored. The space is on the small side, typical of this era hotel, but well appointed with Keurig coffee maker, plenty of outlets, flat screen tv and a/c. My only quibble would be with the a/c rumbling to life and blowing on the bed during the night, but that’s a problem I find with lots of hotels. There was fairly loud music going on downstairs last night in the Pharmacy Bar, but we could hear nothing upstairs. Electronic keys are required for the elevators, and rooms feel very private and secure.