Terlingua, Texas
It seemed a few of you were curious about the piano in Monday’s post and I couldn’t resist telling more of the story. Five years ago, we were living in the very bottom of Texas and decided to go to Big Bend for our honeymoon. Along the way we found the neatest little Ghost town, Terlingua.
That piano was right inside the door of the building, The Perry Mansion, pictured above. We were so intrigued by the building and really wanted to explore it but we were good and stayed out (and safe). I wonder if that building is still there?
Here you can see that building in the background of another dying building. What’s up with that rock line?
I thought this little Bronco truck was so cute I wanted to take it home. But only took a photo.
Oh heck, just enjoy this pictures of the area. Maybe I’ll make it back there someday but if you go before me, take lots of photos and share them, please.
The word Terlingua means three languages.
(yes, that’s my finger, see Joy, I can take bad ones.)
Prior to 1967, Terlingua, Texas, was an abandoned mercury-mining town near the Mexican border, about as far from anything else as it could get. But that year, humorist H. Allen Smith published an article in the New York Times titled, "Nobody Knows More About Chili Than I Do," which included his recipe for chili with beans. A response came back from Wick Fowler, a Dallas newspaperman whose hobby was cooking chili, that if you knew beans about chili, you knew chili didn't have beans.
A showdown between the two men was arranged in remote Terlingua - the first chili cookoff ever - and the winner was to be crowned the world chili champion. Though the contest ended in a tie, the event was a wild success, and Terlingua was deemed the "Chili Capitol of the World." Annual cookoffs have been held there ever since.
Quoted from the Tabasco website.
Isn’t this area great? I love all of the southwest and have been gone far too long! Then combine the southwest with cemetery and oh my! I spent way too much time there, as you could probably tell by the photos. The cemetery photos are actually better in the bigger size but you'd have to go to flickr to see that. There are a lot of wooden crosses there.
While we were there we found a little shop (I think that’s it in the photo but am not really positive) and bought an autographed photo book of the town, THE TERLINGUA AREA PEOPLE AND NATURE. And not too far away is a very nice golf course, believe it or not. We were told by the locals that famous people fly in often to play the course. Can you imagine a green in that desolate, desert area? Can you tell I love, love, love the area?
I so understand your love of the Southwest...I absolutely adore it! I'd
move there tomorrow if only my husband would. He won't even consider it.
Well...maybe we can at least visit in the RV. I managed to talk him into
flying out to ElPaso a couple of years ago and we explored the Carlsbad
Caverns and Cloudcroft and Ruidoso and oh.....I could go on forever. I
just loved this post and every single picture in it!! GREAT shots!!
Just my kind of place.
Awesome!
Love it :D!
That is really awesome.
What a cool place to discover! Your pictures were fun to look at and got
my imagination going.
Your blog is such eye candy!!! Great photos, Lisa.
How absolutely fascinating ~ that would be just the sort of place I would
love to explore!
Amazong photos and amazing place. I would love to visit, it looks like a
place with a lot of stories. I am trying to convince the husband to make
our summer holiday a road trip through the south. He wants to go to a
national park though
Can you believe it is actually now also a place that artist types have
started to congregate? It has a website of local artisans. Similar to
Wimberly.
Beautiful photos! I love living here in the SouthWest.
My favorite photo is the one with the paddle cactus, witht the cross behind
it.
Oh what a fascinating tale with beautiful shots! And, hey, we were in
Oshkosh watching Mr. Depp 2 nights ago too. Little Hollywood! :)
You lived in Texas? Toooooo COOL! I didn't know that about you? You know
that is where I'm at...right?
I can certainly see why you love it there. I think this place has to be one
of the very coolest places I've ever seen -- I wanna go and I wanna go
now!! I love the photos, thanks so much for sharing them with us. You do
always take the best, most interesting photos, finger and all :-)
Those are some amazing photos! Even the one with your finger in it ;)
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Yes, I can tell you love it! So many photographic possibilities! Love the
shots you did get when you were there :-)
your pictorial & commentary was revealing, yes.
And quite intoxicating as well.
Great photo's and story behind it!
Awesome photos. It is fascinating to see different places. I went to
Coober Pedy in Australia where they mine for Opals. It is a desert. The
golf course is all sand and there is one tree in the whole place on the
golf course and it is watered with the water from the pool. It is an
amazing place. When I was there the temperatures got to 41˚C and when
walking on the one paved street, not only could you see the heat coming up,
you could feel your legs burning. It was nice to sleep in the cave hostel.
This may be my favorite post of yours. I love deserted old buildings. The
cemetery is way cool. I would not have been good. I couldn't have
resisted the urge to explore those old buildings unless I thought I'd get
in trouble--and not the building falling down on top of me kind of
trouble:o)
Oh mine god I'm SO behind! But I came, I saw the finger and I say....even
the ones you call ugly are gorgeous. Sooo not fair! :o)
nice photos, glad you stayed out of the perry mansion. uh clem who lives
and runs the radio station there would have been pissed you let your self
in his house
So, this is quite strange and interesting. I can't truly convey my
feelings and thoughts with the written word, but basically, you have a
picture of my dad's headstone on your blog site. LOL! In all honesty, I'm
quite proud. Proud of my dad and his desire to follow his dreams by
leaving the craziness, selfishness, and over populated big cities of Texas
and moving to Terlingua to follow the Lord and devote his time to giving
back to the community by focusing on mission work. It truly was a unique
experience for him and one I better understand each time I return to visit
his grave and the Big Bend area. My dad fell in love with the Big Bend as
a child and introduced my brother and me at a very young age. It's
beautiful and I've enjoyed reading about your experiences. Thank you for
sharing with your friends.