As loyal readers will remember, last June we set off to visit some of the country’s greatest national parks: Yellowstone and Grand Teton. And that meant that we just happened to have an annual National Parks pass sitting around, collecting dust.
Not wanting to let a good thing go to waste, we decided that before the pass expired, we should take the opportunity to visit Big Bend National Park — one of the only national parks in Texas, yet one neither I nor the hubby had ever been to. Of course, that did present one issue: the drive time between Austin and Big Bend is around 7 hours.
But you know what that means, right? ROAD TRIP!
We decided to plan an epic West Texas road trip adventure that ultimately included visiting three parks: the Davis Mountains State Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, and Big Bend National Park, with stops in the towns of Marfa, Alpine, Fort Davis, Sonora, and Ozona along the way.
First, of course, we had to get out of Austin, so we loaded up the car and headed West on highway 290 until we reached the winery-laden village of Fredericksburg. Fredericksburg is one of the cutest little spots in the Texas hill country, full of good food and wine, so it seemed like an ideal spot to stop for lunch.
We popped into Vaudeville, a trendy home decor store, whose basement hides a secret bistro full of house-made cheese and charcuterie. We decided to start the trip off with a splurge: an absolutely GIGANTIC cheese tray, followed by a pastrami reuben sandwich for me, and the daily special duck confit for the hubby.
Absolutely stuffed, we continued our westward expedition to a curious roadside stop just 40 minutes away: Stonehenge II in Ingram, Texas. Here, we encountered all kinds of curios including a life-size replica of Stonehenge, miniaturized versions of the Easter Island heads, and lurking in the trees by the river, even shook hands with Big Foot.
The sights at Stonehenge II are all free and fairly close to the highway, so it’s a good place to stop if you need to stretch your legs and/or get gas during your West Texas road trip.
After leaving Ingram, we settled in for a 3.5 hour driving block before arriving at our next roadside attraction: Paisano Pete, formerly the largest roadrunner sculpture in the world, found in Fort Stockton, Texas.
Fort Stockton essentially marks the start of the Big Bend region, so from here on out, the landscape got far more rugged and mountainous. We continued on through the small town of Balmorhea (stop at the spring-fed pool if you’re visiting when it’s hot!) and eventually arrived at that evening’s destination, the Indian Lodge at the Davis Mountains State Park.
The Indian Lodge was built in the 1930’s by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), and we were able to stay in one of those original rooms. The rooms are cozy, featuring thick adobe walls and a simple bath/shower area, but sadly the original adobe fireplaces have now been plugged.
One note for anyone considering staying at the Indian Lodge — make sure you choose a room without another room on top of it. Either the people staying above us had all the grace of stampeding wildebeests, or the soundproofing between rooms just isn’t that great. (I prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt and blame the latter.)
Since the lodge restaurant is only open for breakfast and lunch, we had to look elsewhere for our dinner. We headed into the nearby town of Fort Davis to stop in at their drugstore-turned-restaurant.
Here, we treated ourselves to Chicken Fried Steak, served with baked potatoes and a trip to the salad bar. The hubby also visited the old fashioned soda shop, and washed his dinner down with a chocolate malt.
Bellies full, we headed back to the Lodge to watch the breathtaking sunset from the balcony of the lobby. This was also a great spot for bird watching, and the white throated swift zoomed all around us, chattering away.
The next morning, we were up bright and early to tackle our first hike of the trip. We headed down via the camping road at the park until we reached the start of the Montezuma Quail Trail. This trail then climbs steeply before merging with the Indian Lodge trail that took us back to our car. Altogether it was about a 2.75 mile hike with great views, and we even encountered our first wildlife: a wild mountain goat visiting a watering trough.
With our first hike under our belts, we also stopped in at the Black Bear restaurant at the Lodge for lunch, and enjoyed an inexpensive but tasty burger and BLT. With that, we re-loaded our gear and headed out on the second part of our adventure: Big Bend National Park.
Stay tuned for our next post for more of the epic West Texas Road Trip!
