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Drove through Marfa,  TX a couple of evenings back on our way to Alpine, TX. Saw enough that justified my interest from some prior reading that we went back yesterday afternoon. Interesting ranch town and art colony combined. James Dean’s last film Giant was filmed in Marfa.  Lots of contrasts: old-timey western street fronts in pastels, reclaimed buildings all over town bearing the same adobe-type wall around them, entire city blocks walled in and given over to a single individual’s family dwelling, gated, padlocked and walled off art in this west Texas town where you could probably leave your house unlocked and your keys in your car.

Great photo ops: Late afternoon light grab shots ~ Marfa, TX

Pizza at the Pizza Foundation was great. Ran into some expat New Englanders,  Red Sox Nation , making pizza in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert in the shell of an old gas station. The gal taking orders was able to reference her summer camp experience in Freedom, New Hampshire. From her depiction my guess is the Leuthi-Peterson Camps. Fun to talk New England and eat good pizza. When we got around to it we were too late to get into the Chinati Foundation but I would go back with a full day’s time and reservations for the tour. Interesting installation even in the dark. Talking with the pizza gal from RI we realized that the art focus in out of the way Marfa is due to one man, one Donald Judd, and after his passing, the Judd Foundation.

Too fully grasp all that is Marfa, Texas one would need more than the late afternoon and evening that we were able to devote to this bohemian West Texas town.

After our meal and a Chinati installation search drive south of Marfa in the fading  light we went searching for the Marfa Lights. We were out well beyond town but still within Marfa at the Marfa Mystery Lights Viewing Area on Route 90 heading east towards Alpine, TX after sunset. There must be something to this Marfa Lights phenomenon to attract this much attention and the investment in a nice roadside facility. We were both skeptical to start especially when the only other people at the viewing area jumped and proclaimed belief at every light on the horizon. Cold night once the sun went down, so we returned to the car. Some constant fixed lights on the horizon as well as some flashing fixed lights on the horizon became points of reference after sitting in the dark and watching for a couple of hours. Two incidents had us leaving wondering what we had seen: a herky-jerky point of light, almost like a star fallen to earth danced around randomly moving from right to left generally, towards the viewing station seemingly way closer than the horizon line, closer than mid-range as well. It moved beyond the viewing station and left our line of sight. Shortly it reappeared on our side of the viewing station back in our line of sight moving left to right and away from us. Then … poof … it was gone. A further visual occurrence while we were present; this a roundish orb of white light leaving a slight trail. Almost looked like a visual slinky nearer the horizon further off than the star point light referenced earlier. This one made a brief appearance and then was gone. It appeared and moved down and towards us.

We tried to rationalize both sightings; in the end our rationalizations did not hold up.

We left:  If not believers, we were certainly wondering what we had seen and experienced on the Mitchell Flats outside of Marfa, Texas.