Big Bend National Park + Marfa, TX | US Road Trip Days 4-7

We're going alien hunting. Mexico, United States. It is the fourth day of our road trip. If you missed our first vlog which is days one through three, we'll link to that in the description below. And for those of you unfamiliar with our road trip, we are road tripping from Seattle, Washington to Marfa, Texas and back over the next I guess two weeks for the holidays. So it's a really long road trip. We have a ton of fun stops along the way. So if you missed the first couple days of our trip, make sure to check that out and we'll have tons more vlogs coming your way soon. Yep. We just got to Tucson, Arizona. We've been on the road for about four hours. Started really early this morning so we're gonna get even more coffee after the gas station coffee. We're gonna step it up a little bit, get some nicer stuff. Yeah. And then hop back in and keep on trucking. Yeah and so fun fact, I actually was born in Arizona so it's really fun to be back here. I lived here from birth to eight years old and then moved to Texas so it's fun to come back. This is Adam's I guess first time in Arizona? To spend some real time here. Yeah. We saw the Hoover Dam last year, earlier this year, but to spend some real deal time, this is my first time. Yeah and we'll be back in April for an actual trip. Yeah. So I'm gonna grab some coffee because we're very tired and then hit the road. So we just stopped at Presta Coffee in this really cool market. I think it's called Mercado San Augustin. It's this really cool like courtyard and then they have kind of around the courtyard different restaurants and there's a bakery as well. So we went to Presta Coffee. We got this peppermint shakerado which has peppermint oil, condensed milk, oh my gosh, and then I think some cocoa powder on top. We figured it's Christmas Eve, we might as well be a little festive. It looks really good and we love condensed milk so I'm pretty sure it's gonna be bomb but let me just try it out just to make sure. Oh so creamy and good. We made it to Texas! Yeehaw! The homeland. We're back. Could I get a large fry please and a jalapeno and cheese water burger, just the burger. Thank you. First things first when crossing over into Texas from New Mexico, gotta stop at a water burger at a Texas institution. It's like Texas version of In-N-Out. We got a large fry, I got a jalapeno and cheese water burger and Kona loves the fries of course. What a dog. Surprise, surprise. Get it? Hi honey. Oh happy to see you sweetie. She's so happy. Baby girl. They told me for days we'd see you. We made it to Marfa. We're gonna be calling Marfa home for the next three days. We're gonna go to Big Bend, we're gonna hang out with my parents, eat a lot of food, play board games. Should be really fun. It'll be a nice little break from driving before we start to make our way back to Seattle which will be a longer journey back and we're gonna make a lot more stops on the way home. After driving 2,300 miles the past few days to get to Marfa, it's been really nice to get here and just relax for a bit. We've gotten a lot of sleep, eaten a lot of good food, played some games. I knew you were gonna pick that one. Watched some Christmas movies and Kona's had a lot of fun playing ball. Oh yeah. So we're now gonna leave the house, go walk around and see some of the things Marfa's kind of known for. So Marfa, Texas is a very small town in West Texas, very close to Mexico. It's home to about almost 1,800 people and it started in the 1880s as a water facility. The population grew and now it's kind of a tourist spot in Texas. It's very small and it kind of is like a blast from the past but it has a really large art scene and so people come here to see the art and kind of just escape regular life and like the hustle and bustle of a regular city. Beyonce come here so that's super cool. So we're gonna walk around the town. Everything's closed because it's Christmas and go check out some of the art stuff on the side of the highway. Should be really fun and later. We're walking around El Cosmico which is probably the most popular place to stay in Marfa. We highly recommend checking it out. If you're visiting Marfa they have teepees, airstreams, they have these like cool little hot tub looking things. It's a really cool place to stay. We couldn't stay here because of how many people we had but if we come back we're definitely staying here in the future. You guys, I am so excited. We drove 2,300 and something miles to come to Prada Marfa. I'm the biggest shoe fan and I'm just so excited and happy to be here. In all seriousness, I think this is really cool. So Prada Marfa is this random Prada, not a real Prada store, but meant to be look like a Prada store in the middle of nowhere. So it's about like 30 minutes outside of Marfa. It's just this like art installation. The bags inside have no bottoms so if someone steals it the bag's useless and then the shoes are all right footed. So don't even try. So don't try. But it's really cool and it's really famous and I've seen it on Instagram for years so it's really fun to be here. Adam's thrilled and Adam, you've been such a good boy. I think I'm gonna get you a purse. We're going alien hunting. We're at the Marfa Lights which is like a super famous thing to do in Marfa. Basically from what we understand, if you come up to this area at night you can see these weird lights that people think could be UFOs or people really don't know what they are. The Apache Indians thought that it was stars falling from the sky. Some people think it's like gases from the swamps. People think it's like car lights or like campfires so we don't know and apparently you can't see them every night or people don't always see them. But we figure we're gonna give it a try and the stars are out and it's beautiful. Oh man, the moon is like hiding I guess. The stars at night are big and bright as they say. Deep in the heart of Texas. So worst case scenario we get some cool star photos. So it's time to go find them aliens. Oh my gosh, we saw the coolest bit of nothing. We didn't see anything except a lot of really cool stars. You can see all the stars. We didn't see any Marfa Lights but it was still fun. Still had a good time. It's cold though so we're gonna get warm again. Good morning from Big Bend National Park. We're so pumped to be here today. We both have never been here and I lived in Texas for 16 years. Been here all my life. And we just never made it out here. It's kind of one of our biggest Texas regrets so this is a big reason why we did this whole road trip was to come here. So we're excited to do some hiking. We're gonna do the Lost Mine Trail first which is 4.8 miles round trip, 1100 feet elevation gain. The sun has just started rising. Absolutely beautiful. It kind of looks like Zion a little bit which we love. So we're about to go get started on the trail. I've wanted to come here all my life. Heard so many great things about it and obviously because it's a national park it's going to be awesome. So I'm excited to spend the day here. So let's go. So this is going to sound weird but Big Bend reminds us of three places. When you put them all together that's kind of what Big Bend is like. So it's kind of like Zion. It's kind of like the Isle of Skye in Scotland. And then it's also kind of like Mount St. Helens. It kind of has like a Mars feel to it. So it's a really cool combination. Adam says it's probably one of his top national parks now. Next stop is the Santa Elena Canyon. It's normally a 1.7 mile round trip hike but because the government shut down the road to the actual trailhead was closed so it's an extra mile each way but it's really flat so far. The really cool thing about this hike is that you go through a canyon and the Rio Grande River runs through it and on one side of the canyon is Mexico and the other side is the U.S. Super cool. So we're basically going to Mexico today. Mexico, United States. It was so fun. Yep so our next stop is barbecue. All right yeah we're leaving Big Bend with the barbecue indulgence. These rustic iron barbecue in Terlingua, Texas. When you come to Texas you have to try Blue Bell ice cream. It's Texas specific ice cream. The best you can get in Texas. I wish they had it in other places in the country like Seattle but uh they don't. But it's my favorite kind of ice cream and this is a special holiday one. It is spiced pumpkin pecan. It's delectable and I love it. Good morning. It's our last day in Marfa. We're pretty bummed to leave but we had a really fun time with my parents. We're grabbing some coffee real quick with them. We're gonna maybe go to an art installation, walk around some shops, grab some lunch and then we're gonna part ways with them. We're at the Chinati Foundation which is I think how you say it. I'm not totally sure but basically this place houses the artwork of Donald Judd. To go into the exhibit you have to pay but there's this cool outdoor area called the 15 Untitled Works in Concrete that's totally free. So we're just walking around here right now and basically it's just like these big concrete block things in a field. You can see the mountains, you can see the hills. They have openings so you can see through them. They're all positioned kind of different ways. I think it's really cool. Adam not so much but we're not really artsy people so to be expected I guess. But we felt like when we were in Marfa we needed to do one artsy thing so we chose to come here because it's free. So we're gonna keep walking around and then we're gonna head on to our next adventure. We're at Food Shark in Marfa which is this really popular food truck. They also have this really cool school bus that you can sit in to eat your meal. This place is really popular. Beyonce has been here. I think that's why it's so popular but it's middle eastern mediterranean type food with like falafel and like kebabs and stuff. Really excited. It looks really really good and we're hoping to grab a seat on the bus. So we are officially on the road leaving Marfa. We said goodbye to my parents. We had a lot of fun with them. We watched a lot of like Netflix movies and played games and explored Marfa. Marfa is such a cool little place. It's you know middle of nowhere. There's not much to do here or really around but they have a lot of cool little shops. The architecture is cool and the style. It's kind of like hipster and artsy and it's pretty close to Big Ben so we highly recommend checking it out. Marfa's pretty awesome. Marfa's super cool. It's like like she's saying we got like the new modern art kind of thing but then there's also like old wild west vibe going on and it's just a cool mix of stuff so really enjoyed it. Yeah we'd love to come back someday. Kind of a far drive for us though. So we are headed to El Paso now. We're gonna spend the next day and a half there and then head to New Mexico so we will see you there. And I'm gonna sing a song. The little jingle goes a little something. I like this. I'm not singing it. You are committed. Don't be a quitter. It's just like the good old days. Have yourself a bluebell country day. Broadcasting live from Marfa, Texas. Home of UFOs and aliens. We drove all the way from Seattle just to this see this Prada Marfa store. Let me start over.