Marfa Activity Center, Texas, United States

1Rick Kretschmann 5:00 PM Aug 31, 2020

Avoid this place - but you will visit anyway
It would seem that Marfa has some sort of public relations group pushing this town to make it a must see if you are in the area such as visiting Big Bend or Fort Davis. I always drive a few blocks off the main street to get a real feel for the town. Here you will see a community in decline with many houses for sale but no sold signs. Need I say more? Cross walks: They mean nothing to the hoardes of millenial tourists who whizz past a family of 5 with three toddlers in a very visible and marked crosswalk. We turned back and didn't cross the road to the restaurant and instead drove to the Water Stop and had an amazing sirloin topped with a basil topping. Yummy!! Marf-art: Visual flatulence that carries distasteful particles. We peered at one exhibit through the windows of the old train station. Fused vehicle body parts. Really? A car crusher at a wrecking yard would be more inspiring. A semi circle of pipes with lights. Wow. I may be a bit harsh as many 'exhibits' were closed but all I saw was simple artsy fartsy stuff you see anywhere. Not worth the trip to see that. Mysterious Marfa Lights: Yup, a complete mystery as to why anyone would travel to see so much nothing. Hippies!!! We met a 70'ish Marfan and his motorcycle dog. It took the gentleman a full 6 seconds for him to state his canine companion's name in Spanish. I thought that odd, but since he and the dog shared telepathy, I wasn't quite clear on the reason the pooch had a name at all. More oddness. Curious as to this gentleman's eccentric story, he said decades ago he was from the mysterious and far away places known as Tofino and Ucluelet. Amazing!!!!! I had always wondered where the drop -out communal 1970's hippies went to after the wealthy folks in Victoria bought the land they were squatting on!! A 40 year old mystery for me, solved in Marfa, Texas. Now the 'art' and the decline all made sense. I could go on and on but despite a great steak, there isn't much here to go out of your way to see... unless you grew up on Vancouver Island and have been wondering for decades whatever happened to the coastal draft dodging, craft peddling, gange harvesting flower children that seemed to disappear from their habitat... then you need to come here and meet the animal telepather who has been 4 months away from finishing his beek since he left Tofino! Wow. For me that made it worth the trip. You just can't make that stuff up. So 1 star for the restaurant, 1 star for the hippie dude and his dog and that's it! You decide if it is worth the trip.

1Rick S 5:00 PM Oct 22, 2020

Looks like this is the Best that Marfa has to offer for entertainment
I love small towns but if this is the best that Marfa has to offer their citizens it is rather sad. You will be glad that you are driving through and heading back to a larger Texas City.