February 19, 2013 Marathon, Texas

Heading toward Big Bend still. We traveled along the Rio Grande River  and the Pecos river in an area the Spanish explorers called Despablado-meaning unpopulated zone to describe the arid Pecos region.

Seminole Canyon State Park is know for its petroglyphs. The Indians lived in these cliffs and painted on the walls. There are several sites in the canyon, but you can only visit them with a guide. We missed the tours, but visited the visitors center. John with the sculpture at Seminole Canyon. It is called the Maker of Peace and  is a memorial erected by the rock art society for a member and his ancestors whose art adorns these canyons and whose prayers still echo in the wind.

Seminole Canyon. Our next stop was Langtry, Texas and the Judge Roy Bean museum -who was the only law west of the Pecos river. This is his original Jersey Lilly saloon he operated out of.

I took too many photos, so here are some collages. The first set the upper left is the RV  park in Langtry, an adobe ruin, most of he buildings were ruins in Langtry, and baby rattlers in a front yard. The second set on the right the top is the vista, the next is the immigration check point, we must look pretty harmless, they didn’t even ask for id or check the bus, more scenery, and a west Texas rest area.

cactus blooms, Cowgirls are forever, metal sculpture and the quail tostado I had for dinner. The second set are photo of the Marathon Motel and RV park we are in now.

For dinner we went to the Historic Gage Hotel. Here is John at the entrance and the bar where we had dinner

Johns dinner was shrimp and cheesy grits. I liked the mountain lion in the lobby.

The Wild burro restaurant and the western wear store in downtown Marathon.  The next town Alpine is in the mountains of Texas, peaks above 7,000 feet. They claim to be the Texas Alps!