Terlingua
Live it up in the suburbs of Study Butte
TERLINGUA
Terlingua is as much a state of mind as an actual place.
It's a legendary destination, where visitors' goals have ranged from mining quicksilver to simmering the perfect chili.
There is nowhere quite like Terlingua, and today it's hard to believe that this quiet town was once the industrial center of the Big Bend. Before it went bust, the main industry was mining quicksilver, but now it's debauchery and celebrations. ¡Bueno!
Terlingua has its own aesthetic, somewhere on a continuum ranging from eclectic eccentricity to outright insanity. After all, when everyone is crazy, then crazy is normal.
Somehow Terlingua has evolved into the foremost nautically themed outpost in the desert.
Art is in the eye of the beholder. So, behold...
This is urban living in downtown Terlingua.
People happily live in the ruins of those who came before, updating them with 21st century technology to make even better ruins for the future.
Life in the Ghost Town centers around the front porch. Sunsets are arranged nightly for our guests to savor.
You never know who will show up --
-- or how they'll arrive.
The local population is interesting, to say the least, consisting largely of reclusive artists, semi-exiled misfits, delightful curmudgeons, and crusty characters out of your next novel.
If you want to live life as a local, just take your shoes off, sit back, and sip a cool drink.
And, sometimes, visitors and natives alike just want a little shade on the front porch of the Terlingua Trading Company -- and perhaps something cool to sip.
From there, things usually progress to songs, tall tales, or swapping lies.
Terlingua, a town with maybe a few hundred "residents," hosts not one, but two raucous International Chili Cookoffs -- on the same day -- growing to a temporary population of about twenty thousand.
Hint: For the chili cookoffs, leave the kids at home. Please. The chili is hot. The nights get even hotter.
If chili isn't to your liking, there are a few interesting places to eat without leaving Greater Metropolitan Terlingua.
Better yet, you can stay in the Ghost Town and dine at the best restaurant in town, the Starlight Theatre.
Live music is featured nightly in what was once the miners' movie theatre. (They never had it this good!)
Buenas noches.
The Big Bend Holiday Hotel is Owned and Operated by the Bill Ivey family.
Each Room has NO Cable Television OR Telephone. Enjoy the break.
Free wireless internet is usually available via fiber optic cable.
Breakfast is not provided, but all rooms have coffeemakers and our special blend of coffee.
A mini-fridge and a microwave oven are available in every room.
Room Service is very expensive and requires 48 hours notice.
© 2020-24 Big Bend Holiday Hotel