Day 5 Spring Break Road Trip: Fort Davis and Marfa

Wednesday morning we decided to try to drive over to the observatory to see if we could talk them into something since we missed out on our Star Party. However, when we arrived before 10 a.m., the road was closed. We decided instead to head to Fort Davis National Historic Site. 

The kids were very excited to learn that the fort had Junior Ranger activities they could do to earn a badge. Their task was to complete a photo scavenger hunt as they explored the fort.

These kids were on a mission to find everything required in order to earn their badges!

After we finished touring the site, the kids took their junior ranger oaths and chose between a patch or a badge. Oliver found himself a vest to display all his future badges, too!

After lunch Wednesday, we took a drive to Marfa, Texas to see what all the hype is about!

(Spoiler alert: we still don't know.)

The Presidio County Courthouse in Marfa

The historic Hotel Paisano

We found the visitor center, which is also the historic USO building complete with a gorgeous chandelier! 

We did a little more walking and exploring and popped in a couple of shops, which were honestly few and far between.

One shop owner told us about a rock store, and Oliver and Noah led us on a trek across town to check it out before it closed. 

From there, we found a place with patio dining for dinner called The Water Stop, so we walked over to it to rest our legs and enjoy some food.

After dinner (and ice cream at DQ!), it was time to head over to the Marfa Lights viewing area just outside of town.

We had really high hopes of seeing the Marfa Mystery Lights! We had asked the woman at the visitor center about her theory, and she believes the lights are Indian spirits. Other people say aliens; many believe it's an atmospheric phenomenon.

What I found fascinating was how many people came out in the middle of the week for a chance to glimps the mystery lights.

We were equipped with some pretty good binoculars (thanks to Mom) and a prime night for viewing the lights. 

Sure enough, as the sky started to darken, we began to see what looked like car lights at first. In fact, the woman in town told us that many people think they are headlights, but as we watched, even through the binoculars, some of the lights we saw could not be explained that simply. A few of them would appear out of nowhere and looked extremely bright and large compared to others. Some would move while others would stand still but then suddenly fade out completely. Some of the lights we saw off in the distance seemed to originate from the same place, and I could be convinced that we were seeing distant headlights, but others were much closer to us where there was definitely no road, and those lights didn't follow any kind of distinct pattern. It was really fun and exciting, even if you are skeptical!

On the drive back to our campsites, I found some interesting mystery tales about the Marfa lights. I was reading them to the kids in our car and it was pretty fun to share in the experience that many people over the last century plus have witnessed!