Howdy Texas! Day 5 Marfa and Fort Davies

[CrispyA]

We all slept well and were impressed with how comfortable the room was. The hotel didn't provide breakfast, so we went to the Donut Palace which a) existed and b) was open. Hurrah!

After breakfast burritos and donuts, we packed the suitcases and checked out. It was a lovely Sunday morning and we had already planned to go to church - something we haven't done on holiday before. Fort Stockton has a LOT of churches (which is true of most of Texas) and we weren't sure which one to go for. In the end, we headed for the First Presbyterian church, which was quite close to the hotel.

It was a nice service and the people were very friendly and welcoming, inviting us to their potluck lunch and asking about our trip. We all really enjoyed it and would do that again.

After church, we stopped for a quick Walmart top-up and then got on the road. We fancied seeing Alpine, so took a detour there. As luck would have it, there had been a rodeo over the weekend, which we had just missed. Dang it. Nevermind, this hadn't been a rodeo trip, so we weren't too disappointed.

Alpine was a lovely town and looked as though it would have been a good place for an overnight stop. Maybe next time . . .

The next place we were going to stop at was Marfa. This part of West Texas is pretty laid back and quirky - we read that if you can't relax here, you just plain can't relax! Marfa and surroundings seem to attract bohemian, artsy types and again it would have been a good place to stop.

We had read about the Food Truck in Marfa - the Food Shark - and luckily, it was open as we drove in. We had to stop for Marfalafels - both for the name and the veggie goodness - and they were jolly tasty!

Evan isn't a big fan of falafels, so munched his way through grapes instead. He looks thrilled about this . Hannah, on the other hand, was overjoyed!

After falafels (and a quick visit to the Dairy Queen for a blizzard), we had a walk around the main courthouse, just relaxing with the Marfa vibe.

Then we headed off for Fort Davis, our next overnight stop.

We had booked the Stone Village Tourist Camp and were looking forward to it as the website was very impressive. We weren't disappointed - we got a suite with a bedroom and separate kitchenette which was all lovely. There was a really nice pool, chairs to sit out, a hammock, friendly cats and just a lovely lowkey relaxed vibe.

After a swim, we had a walk to find the pizza place recommended on tripadvisor, which was, as usual, closed! Here we are, searching for food!

We shrugged it off and carried on exploring the town - which is pretty much one street. It really reminded us of Springdale in Utah, where we had stayed for Zion Canyon - especially with the Davis mountains in the background and the old style buildings.

We eventually ate at Lupita's, a Mexican place. It was okay - nothing special. Then we had walk to the other end of town and the kids found a playground. Considering they are 13 (12 at the time) and 15, they had a lot of fun on the swings and seesaw! Who needs Facebook when there are monkey bars? We steered clear of the slides though as they were far too hot!

It does feel slightly sad to see signs like this on a school though. You are reminded that you are somewhere with a different culture.

There had been a bit of rain on and off (West Texas rain is warm and shortlived) and we saw a lovely rainbow when we got back to the motel.

Paul outside the motel - you can see our room and outside chairs behind him.

We finished the evening sitting outside and chatting about the trip so far while the kids watched TV. Wish I'd remembered to put bug spray on though, as we got well and truly bitten!