Alpine, TX
Dates of stay: Jan 14 - 19, 2022
Campground: The Lost Alaskan
We departed Lajitas for Alpine, TX - decided to extend our stay here until Wednesday, given the weather in Carlsbad which is cold and below freezing. We just didn’t want to have to make an unnecessary move, so we’ll just visit Carlsbad Caverns from here.
After pulling into the Lost Alaskan RV resort, we went to explore the town. After getting skunked on a propane refill at Tractor Supply - again (kind of becoming a trend for us), we were driving down the road and saw a sign that said “Sul Ross student meat market.” Sul Ross is a state university and of course, I was intrigued so we had to pull in. It’s run and managed by the university and it’s students. It’s mission is to teach best practices in the area of agricultural and butchering processes. They butcher and process all of the meats onsite at this facility and then sell everything to the public - and by everything, I mean everything (hearts, organs, etc). We passed on those but picked up some hamburgers, breakfast sausage and beef jerky. We made a stop at the visitor center, which is really a must on these stops and walked away with an armful of brochures and maps.
On our drive around town, we came to a very low bridge, commenting that the RV would never make it - well neither did the Sleep Number truck we encountered on the other side. Apparently, the driver was either not paying attention or wasn’t sure of the height variance but the top of his truck had been completely sheer off - it looked like a giant sardine can with the top completely rolled back. It was certainly and interesting site and not an experience we want to have….
The next day, we started off a very cool morning at the very small Farmer’s market - a bread stand, a place to buy microgreens, and a stand with jams and pickles. Pretty sparse, but we picked up some sourdough and cinnamon raisin bread. Tom and Owen went in search of an oil change for the Jeep and I wanted to explore some of the murals that the town is known for. There are also a number of shops and galleries that looked intriguing. I found so many beautiful paintings and photographs of the Big Bend area, pottery, other sculptures - but once again, reminded of the space constraints in the RV!
We explored the MCDonald Observatory Observatory and took a guided tour of one of the massive telescopes they have on their campus - approximately 200 tons of it. One of the telescopes here was the first to measure the distance of the earth to the moon, within 2 inches accuracy. Today, the measurements are within 1/2 an inch!
We took a 3 hour drive up to Carlsbad Caverns National Park (CAVE). On our way there, we passed the Prada “store” in Valentine, TX, complete with tumbleweed passing in front of it. This is actually an art installation that was created by artists in Malfa, in collaboration with Prada. I read about it years ago, so it was fun to see this on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.
Our drive up to Carlsbad was beautiful, as it took us through the Guadalupe Mountains and we finally arrived at CAVE. The crowds at this time of year are very low, and it was a wonderful time to visit. We entered via the Natural Entrance (you can take an elevator from a different spot), but if you are physically able, walking through the natural entrance is absolutely amazing. This is basically the bat cave, and in the summer, you can see them fly out of here in the afternoon as they go hunting during the night. Inside the cavern it is very cool - about 53 degrees, so dress warm.
We highly recommend the audio tour for an extra $5 pp, as it really enhances the experience as it has info on the history of the cave’s discovery, indepth data on the geology, and the overall composition of the caverns and how they’ve been explored and preserved over the years.
There’s a “lunchroom” area, which actually used to serve the crowds back in the 50s (fried chicken was the best, supposedly) and there is a post office box where you can mail postcards from. Today, it still serves but only drinks, chips and candy bars. The structure/decor of the area is within the cave itself but it is very dated - definitely a mid 1900’s feel.
The original tourists had to descend down in a oversized BUCKET, then make their way down a crickety staircase .That would’ve definitely amped up the experience. You can still see this area today, from the walkway.
Very grateful for our ability to travel to CAVE, and our physical ability to experience this park - Owen had a real appreciation for the beauty and wonder of this place and it’s been one of his favorite stops.
Other fun excursions included the mural tour for art class (well, I thought it was fun). Alpine is a really artsy town (also - go visit Desert Rose Provisions store if you get the chance - great art and other finds). The Visitor Center provides a map of the murals as well as scavenger hunt type document for them, so we used this as an opportunity for art and history class. The murals vary from landscapes of west Texas, to all of the musicians that are originally from Texas - that was a favorite one perhaps. We also came across a woman who was working on fixing a telephone pole that was covered in mosaic tiles. She explained to us that the town is currently working to cover all of their telephone poles in this way - we found a couple of others, and they were really beautiful.
We also hiked up to Desk Hill, which has become an iconic location in Alpine. This is a short 20-30 minute hike up a hill not too far from Sul Ross Campus. Back in 1981, three students decided to haul a school desk up to the top of the hill above the campus of Sul Ross State University - supposedly to have a quieter, more serene place to study. The desk stayed there, and now it is the endpoint of this hike up Hancock Hill where visitors can sign the notebook kept in the desk as well as take in the spectacular view of the school and surrounding town - which we did. Bicycle Tree is also up there (bikes in a tree - not sure what this is about).
On our final evening, we enjoyed a campfire with our neighbors, who lived near Austin, TX. They were traveling for a few days in their Airstream and invited us to come and visit them so they could take us sailing sometime! yes please….
We departed Alpine the next morning before sunrise and I got to drive….while treated to some gorgeous vistas as the sun came up. The roads are flat and straight here, which made for an easy drive.