Dining Along Historic Highways presentation today at the Viva Big Bend Food Festival!

 

Today, as part of the Viva Big Bend food festival, we'll be presenting a FREE program about "Dining Along Historic Highways" at the Hotel Paisano in Marfa at 4pm.  

We'll be sharing old photos, recipes and samples of food from the region, with a special emphasis on the 1930s when the highways were being paved and some of our historic hotels (still in operation) were just beginning to serve travelers.  Come join us!

#30DaysofBiking

Many travelers learn Marfa is a great place to ride a bicycle...and some of our hotels have bikes for loan or rent.  We found this lovely photo from early Marfa as we were doing research for our "Dining Along Historic Highways" presentation, see above!

New and Fresh in Van Horn, Get off the Freeway and Explore!

Yesterday, Scoops N Shakes was serving
homemade agua de pina!

www.facebook.com/scoops.shakes

There's a new place in Van Horn that serves ice cream, fresh fruit and homemade aquas frescas from what's becoming a little "hub" of activity in a historical area of our "Crossroads of the Texas Mountain Trail." Scoops N Shakes opened in the old Lomax Shell station RIGHT at the Crossroads of Hwy 54 (which leads north to Guadalupe Mountains National Park) and Hwy 90 (which leads south to Marfa) and just two blocks north of I-10 (at the second Van Horn exit).  The new shop is right across the street from the historic Hotel El Capitan, too, and just down the block from locally owned Rodney's Coffee Shop and the Clark Hotel Museum.  Want a break from chain restaurants and fast food?  Get off the freeway and try what Van Horn has to offer! 

Take a break from fast food: Visit Papa's Pantry in Van Horn

There's a family-owned place to stop to eat on I-10 that folks may not know about...Papa's Pantry in Van Horn.  Take the second exit in Van Horn and head just south of the interstate.

Inside, you'll find locals dining on some of the best Mexican food around.  If you get a sandwich, it will be served on homemade bread! 

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Our Hospitality Heroes! Hyatt Place El Paso Airport

Danny Padilla (l), accepts the Texas Mountain Trail
Hospitality Heroes Award from Executive Director, Beth
Nobles (c), Director of Sales, Rebecca Diaz (r)

Every year, we award one or two regional businesses or attractions well-deserved special recognition, our Texas Mountain Trail Hospitality Heroes Award.

Our friends at the Hyatt Place El Paso Airport location have earned it!  They exemplify the best in hospitality and service--qualities that distinguish all our Texas Mountain Trail Hospitality Heroes Award winners.

The property was the first to participate in our cycle-friendly accommodations program, and was the launching location for Adventure Cycling Association's first Big Bend Loop tour last fall.  Click here to see their 2013 Big Bend tours...Adventure Cycling is  offering three Big Bend Loop tours this year, and they're visiting with the Hyatt Place about using their facility again.

The property has provided in-kind support that's allowed us to build partnerships and develop programs to bring travelers to El Paso and the rest of Far West Texas--like our Far West Texas Wildlife Trail, the Peak Fitness Challenge, and others.  In short, they've been an important part of every program we've launched.

Bike parking in rooms allowed
in this Texas Mountain Trail
cycle-friendly property!

From the early days of our organization, the Hyatt Place has supported our Texas Mountain Trail non-profit with leadership provided by Rebecca Diaz, their Director of Sales.  Rebecca served on our board for several terms, and is currently our Vice President and a member of our Executive Committee. 

All that support is most appreciated, but there's more:  without fail, the entire staff of this property is friendly, service-oriented and interested in providing the best stay possible for all its guests.  THAT makes our region just a little bit better for the traveler.   Congrats, and thank you!

Also, we'd like to note that we featured the menu items offered by the Hyatt Place for health-conscious visitors...check out our link to that entry!

Marfa's U.S.O. Hall....Visit it Today!

The interior of Marfa's U.S.O. Hall is nearly untouched from
its heyday during World War II.  Now the town's Visitor Center, you can
see it yourself...just south one block from the blinking light
in the center of town on Hwy 67 South.

Yesterday, we posted the 1941 Christmas menu from Fort D.A. Russell in Marfa, as part of our "Dining Along Historic Highways" series.  (See the full document--inside and out--HERE with our thanks to the Alpine's Museum of the Big Bend)   Today, take a look inside the U.S.O. Hall from that era! 

With the historical exhibits and photographs of soldiers and airmen, it takes little imagination to put yourself back into Marfa, 1941.

Read more about World War II in Texas, here.
Other Fort D.A. Russell sites you can visit in Marfa today include:
Building 98
Chinati Foundation

JOIN the Texas Mountain Trail!  Click HERE!

See inside a 1941 Fort D.A. Russell Christmas Menu!

Click HERE to see inside....a Christmas menu from Fort D.A. Russell in 1941, plus places you can still visit in Marfa to put you back in the Fort during W.W.II.

The full document is part of our continuing series on "Dining Along Historic Highways!"

Happy Holidays to everyone from the Texas Mountain Trail!  And hearty thanks to the Museum of the Big Bend, Marfa Public Library/Portal to Texas History and Monte Riggs for content for this special feature!  Y'all are great!

JOIN the Texas Mountain Trail!  Click HERE!

How would you like to drive in the Mountains in one of these?

 

 

This lovely vehicle takes a starring role in a little "dream" document we created for our "Dining Along Historic Highways" series...this one...on the Bankhead Highway!  From our website:  "This historic route, established in 1919 and considered the first paved transcontinental highway, connected Washington, D.C. with San Diego as part of the National Auto Trail system. The Texas segment was pieced together county by county entering from the east at Texarkana swinging down to Dallas and making its way across Texas to exit at El Paso." In our Texas Mountain Trail region, the old Bankhead Highway generally follows 1-20 from Midland/Odessa to I-10 around Kent, through Van Horn and Sierra Blanca, then through the backroads to the Mission Trail and El Paso.  CLICK HERE to get to our visual introduction to dining along the Bankhead Highway today...there's more to come in the weeks and months ahead! 

Dining Along Historic Highways

The Clark girls of Van Horn, in front of
their home, the Clark Hotel, now
a museum.  Across the street, the
Hotel El Capitan, now operating as
a hotel/restaurant

Over the next few months, we're going to have some fun with dining along historic highways in the Texas Mountain Trail region.  We'll share old menus, recipes, photos and information about places where you can get a fantastic meal today.  One of those places is the Hotel El Capitan, completely and lovingly restored.  Located on both the Bankhead Highway and the Old Spanish Trail and at the Crossroads of the Texas Mountain Trail, Van Horn is a town with a great history of taking care of travelers for more than 100 years.

Imagine when we happened upon a 1934 recipe for Icebox Cookies from Van Horn recently, and we couldn't wait to share them with all of you.  They feature pecans, a local crop.  We can't help of thinking of those Clark girls munching on them, watching travelers drive through their town.

We put together a three-page spread of photos of that intersection in the photo above, of both the Clark Hotel and the Hotel El Capitan AND that cookie recipe!  Click here to see it all! 

Terlingua Ghosttown's Starlight Theatre

 When we head down to Big Bend National Park, we try to work in dinner at the Starlight Theatre in Terlingua Ghost Town.  The building was the performance hall for this mining community in the 1930s, the Starlight now has a fine menu and often live music and performances.

 

 

From our Texas Mountain Trail website, on Terlingua:

"Originally a small Mexican village on the banks of Terlingua Creek three miles above the creek’s confluence with the Rio Grande River, Terlingua changed rather quickly in the late 1800s due to the discovery of quicksilver. Quicksilver, or mercury, is a rare element occurring in the Earth’s crust and may be derived rather simply by heating its host ore – cinnabar. Quicksilver often occurs in environments once highly volatile like the volcanic country comprising the mountains around Terlingua. Its use was at one time particularly prevalent in medical and scientific instrumentation, making its Terlingua source the conduit to prosperity for this community during the early part of the 1900s.

The Chisos Mining Company provided employment for hundreds of mine workers, many who occupied the simple, stacked rock structures that still stand in the Terlingua area today. Quicksilver mining peaked by the end of World War I but it didn’t spell the end for this desert community. Today, much of the original buildings are filled with saloons, eateries, and small shops and many of the tiny rock structures have been restored and stabilized and serve as private residences for Big Bend’s desert dwellers. The entire collection of structures and ruins constitutes the town’s own historic district, earning it a National Register listing. Outdoor outfitters, specializing in mountain biking and river rafting, dominate the community character and the annual Terlingua Chili Cook-off, a not-to-be-missed pilgrimage for many Texans each November, never fails to raise a crowd."


Click on the photo for a closer view
of Stonewear Designs, Rockin Capri
and Jacket and Lynx Pullover!

How to get there?  Head west from Terlingua/Study Butte (those two towns are intertwined so much it is hard to tell where one ends and the other begins) on the River Road, Hwy 170.  About five miles west of the intersection of Hwys 170 and 118, turn right at the sign for the Ghost Town.  Here's a map from our friends at Visit Big Bend, with a list of businesses in the area.

We send thanks to our friends at Stonewear Designs for letting us try out some of their activewear, which doubles as terrific travel clothes...perfect for relaxed destinations, such as Terlingua!