Our BIG TEXAS ROAD TRIP started with a drive to Big Bend, via Sonora and a stop at the Sonora Caverns. Then we spent four days exploring Big Bend National Park, Terlingua, and Big Bend Ranch State Park before heading on to Marfa.
Read here about the first part of our Texas Road Trip!
Marfa, TX and Alpine, TX
Any visit to the Big Bend area will almost certainly bring you through one or more of the west Texas towns in the area. My first visit as a teenager, we stayed a couple nights in Marathon. On this trip we wanted to visit Marfa. Since our trip was planned so last minute, Airbnb options were limited and we ended up finding a house in Alpine. This worked out perfectly because we were able to visit both towns! We passed through Presidio after BBRSP and drove north to Marfa. We did a little drive by sightseeing while the kids napped in the car and then headed on to Alpine. The towns are only 30 minutes apart, so an easy distance to cover – especially considering the long drives already involved on this trip!
That evening we enjoyed a leisurely dinner in Alpine and were treated with an incredible sunset from the back porch of the restaurant. There is nothing like these desert sunsets! Once the sun was down, we decided to try our luck at spotting the Marfa Mystery Lights. Off Highway 90, between Marfa and Alpine, there is an entire facility and viewing point specifically for people searching for the lights. Our visit was very brief – the kids were riled up after dinner and the other visitors seemed to want to maintain a hushed atmosphere. Despite our short visit… I’m not going to say we saw the lights… but we definitely saw some lights that couldn’t be obviously explained. Take with that what you will.
Our mission on the next day was to explore Marfa. It seems like Marfa has become a DESTINATION in the past few years. It’s a picturesque town nestled in the west Texas desert with no shortage of cute photo ops. We started the day grabbing a local coffee and a little bit of wandering around main street. We had reservations at the Chinati Foundation for a self guided walking tour through the art installation for later in the morning, so we timed our wandering to just make it for the tour. The Chinati Foundation is a contemporary art museum only open Thursday – Saturday. Because of the pandemic, only the outside sculptures were open. After so much hiking already under our belt, the 1.6 mile walk around the sculptures was a breeze. Lots of pictures were taken – we had fun playing with lighting and camera angles and the kids burned off energy running around the exhibit.
After the Chinati Foundation, we made the 20 minute drive west of Marfa to the influencer-famous Prada Marfa art installation. Admittedly, this stop was a bit indulgent on my part. I knew it was somewhat out of the way and that the kids would not be impressed… but I wanted to see this piece and who knows when would we be in the area again? No surprise, when we arrived, there were social media influencers everywhere. We saw groups of women posing… and posing… and posing. We saw wardrobe changes next to cars parked roadside. People taking videos. We were able to sneak in for some of our own pictures with the store front and spent some time people watching. It is fascinating to see firsthand the amount of work that goes behind some of these gorgeous social media posts.
By the time we got back to Marfa, we were all hungry for lunch. Surprisingly, there was not a large selection of places open for lunch. Not sure if it was due to the pandemic or just limited hours in general, but we ended up finding a cute brunch place with a large patio. Our crew slightly stood out amongst the other tables of couples and girl weekend groups. I definitely got the impression that Marfa gets a lot of business from bachelorette parties these days. At one point during lunch, I was quickly ushering A inside toward the restrooms and as we passed one group of such women, A loudly announced “the poo poo is coming ooooout!” (Note: it was not. She was fine. It was fine. We were all juuuuust fine.) So I’m sure we left a memorable impression with that table… and maybe provided a tiny bit of unintentional birth control.
The rest of our afternoon in the area was low key. Just some driving around Marfa and Alpine and watching deer grazing in the field behind our Airbnb. Both towns had that quintessential west Texas feel along with pops of a modern twist. Interesting street art co-mingled among historic buildings and western wear shops. There still looks to be much more to explore, but we have to save that for another trip.
Fredericksburg, TX
After our adventures in west Texas, we made the drive back to the hill country for a few days in the Fredericksburg area. As much as I love the desert landscape, it was a nice change of pace to see the rolling hills and green vegetation as we got closer to Fredericksburg. We made good time, arriving in town a couple hours before check in. Arriving early to Fredricksburg is certainly no hardship. The main street is full of cute shops and wine bars. We did a little bit of window shopping before settling in at an outdoor wine garden. The seating area was not full, so the kids were able to play around the picnic tables while Scott and I sipped on some delicious hill country wine.
We really hit the jackpot with our Airbnb in Fredericksburg. Since we were there during the week, we found a luxurious house that was listed at a great discount. This house was recently renovated, included all the amenities a visitor could want, and featured an adorable outdoor patio area. That night Scott and I soaked in the house’s hot tub and relaxed our stiff muscles. This was a welcome treat after hiking around west Texas, and we needed to be rested for the morning and our last hike of the trip.
The next day we woke up nice and refreshed – ready for our adventure hiking Enchanted Rock. I had grown up with regular visits to Enchanted Rock through my childhood. Visits with my family, accompanying friends’s families, church group camping trips… I can’t count the number of times I’ve made the hike to the summit. After a failed attempt at taking my kids the previous summer (without Scott), I was so excited to give it a go again! Lesson learned from my previous attempt: do not underestimate that Texas July heat…. or overestimate your ability to corral two toddlers on your own. On that attempt we turned around about 20 minutes into the hike and made a beeline to the shaved ice stand.
Enchanted Rock State Park is just about 20 minutes outside of Fredericksburg, so it was easy to make it there in the morning when it was still cool. This is probably one of the more popular Texas state parks, so if you know your plans in advance, I highly recommend paying for your entrance online early. Especially during the summer months and holidays, the park frequently reaches capacity. Parking is plentiful, but if it is super busy, you might have to tack on some extra distance before reaching the main trailhead.
We snagged a parking spot and immediately headed straight for the summit trail. The path starts out with a climb down some stairs, across a small creek, and then an easy flat walk to the base of the granite dome. Things get more interesting as you begin to ascend, with the path becoming rocky, and eventually the rocks disappear leaving you with the smooth rock. Trail markers were easy to follow up to this point, but now markers are not obvious and you just need to keep going up.
Now, as much as I wanted to do this hike, I’ve always had a little “thing” about heights. No debilitating phobia, just a LOT of anxiety. I thought maybe I had grown past some of that, but being on the smooth rock with my very young (and therefore unpredictable) kids had my anxiety on full blast. The height of the rock was not scary so much as the ever-present feeling that one could easily tumble down. Needless to say, I had a death grip on whichever kid’s hand I was holding. Despite my anxiety, we made it to the top. Success! We enjoyed the views and had fun looking around the boulders that form caves on the back side of the dome.
When it was time to descend, the trail is still not marked well, but I remembered my trick from years earlier and just followed the path where people were coming up. We had to do some extra zig zagging to keep the trail at a reasonable slope for the kids, but we made it down uneventfully. The steep grade of the trail makes it more difficult, but the total roundtrip hike is around 1.3 miles – easy enough for families.
We celebrated our successful summit with lunch at the house and naps for the littles. After nap time, we spent the late afternoon unwinding in the outdoor area of a local winery, Texas Heritage Vineyard. The kids played around the tables, and we all were delighted to watch a herd of deer coming running for dinnertime at a deer feeder in the back field. The wine tasting also did wonders for soothing any of my lingering anxiety from our morning adventure!
Our last day in Fredericksburg was meant to be a day for relaxing before returning to Houston. Our only plan was a wine tasting reservation at Pedernales Cellars for the late morning. We had a leisurely morning in the house and visited the Christmas decorations at the town square on our way to our reservation. The kids were so excited to see the Christmas decor already on display!
Pedernales Cellers in a gorgeous winery off of Hwy 290. Scott and I have been there before and thought it would be a good place to go with the kids because they have a large patio and outdoor space. Our delicious wine tasting ended up being in the building. We hadn’t done a formal wine tasting in quite a long time. I had forgotten how fun it is to sip different varieties and compare notes about how favorites. After the tasting, we moved to the outdoor area and feasted on a picnic lunch. A cold front had moved in overnight, but the chilly weather didn’t stop the kids from playing in the field around the patio tables.
After lunch, we made a couple more winery stops on our way back into Fredericksburg. We visited Fat Ass Winery, where the kids got to meet a real life donkey named Frito! And our final stop was Safari Winery, where they have a gorgeous tasting room and another large patio. The tastings were fantastic everywhere we visited, and the kids had enough new scenery and toys to stay busy and happy. Pizza for dinner back in Fredericksburg was a winner across the board. All in all, it was mission accomplished for a relaxing and peaceful day.
The next day marked the end of our vacation with a four hour drive back home, complete with a breakfast taco stop at Buc-ee’s (iIf you know, you know). Looking back at this trip, I am so happy that we made it happen. We stayed as safe as we could during the pandemic and were still able to experience amazing new places. I know we will make those other trips happen in the future, but in the meantime, it was so special to explore these exciting areas of Texas.
Posts from this trip:
Roadtripping through Texas with Kids! Part 1
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