Terlingua Eats And Yurt Retreats

A great Big Bend trip starts with a smart plan, not a scramble. We lay out a traveler’s roadmap to Terlingua—where to find the best tacos and tostadas, how to grab a table at the Starlight Theater without burning your evening, and which spots box up trail-ready lunches before you disappear into the park. From a press-lauded barbecue basket to soft-serve pints and breakfast burritos on the go, you’ll get a real feel for the food scene that keeps hikers, rafters, and stargazers happily fueled.

Lodging gets a glow-up with Terlingua Escondido, a pair of thoughtfully built yurts hidden just off the main road. Think full bathroom, a big fridge-freezer, AC and heat, and a stargazing dome under true dark skies. Host Jenny—once a river guide—joins us to share the ghost town’s living history: mercury mining roots, roofless dances at the Starlight, and the creative freedom that birthed today’s A-frames, teepees, restored Airstreams, and hipcamp sites. It’s a portrait of a place with no chain hotels and plenty of character, where neighbors endure summer heat, rare winter ice, and help each other anyway.

We also break down when to go and why it matters. Fall brings green hills after monsoons and flowing river days. Spring surges with energy and crowds. Winter offers mild hiking and the clearest skies. Summer rewards dawn hikers and midday nappers with empty trails and quiet nights. Use our on-the-ground tips to line up dinner, pack better lunches, and pick a stay that lets you savor the desert instead of suffering through it.

Loved the guide? Tap follow, share this with a Big Bend-bound friend, and leave a quick review so more travelers can find the show. Got a Terlingua favorite we missed? Tell us and we’ll add it to the map.

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Alexa and Rory
The ROAMies

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Alexa.

SPEAKER_05 (00:01):
And I'm Cory.

SPEAKER_01 (00:03):
And together we are to each other.

SPEAKER_05 (00:08):
Alright.
We are a touring musical duo.

SPEAKER_01 (00:11):
And our music has taken us to all kinds of places
all around the world and keepsus always on the go.

SPEAKER_05 (00:16):
So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while
running around working to do allyour plates spending.

SPEAKER_01 (00:22):
And we hope to facilitate your busy lifestyle
and feed your inner travel bug.
Hi everyone, welcome to theRomies Podcast.

SPEAKER_04 (00:37):
Welcome.
Welcome.
That sounded kind of likeHalloween creepy.
Welcome.

SPEAKER_01 (00:43):
Well, after Halloween, we did go visit Big
Ben National Park.

SPEAKER_04 (00:47):
We did indeed.

SPEAKER_01 (00:48):
Because in our episode, episode series that we
did with Jennifer Broom when shetold us which national parks to
visit at which time of the year,we took her suggestion and we
visited Big Ben National Park inthe winter.

SPEAKER_05 (01:00):
Very wise suggestion by Jennifer Broom.
So I would advise that you takeher other suggestions as well.
From the one time we did, it wasreally awesome.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11):
Yeah.
Number two.
Oh, yeah.
We got lots of episodes fory'all to check out if you
haven't uh done so yet.
If you haven't been following usfrom day one.

SPEAKER_05 (01:27):
An adventure we did have in the mountains of Texas.

unknown (01:32):
Wow.

SPEAKER_05 (01:32):
Mountains.
Real mountains.
Yeah.
Texas.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:36):
So there's Big Ben National Park.
We're going to be diving intothe actual park coming up this
month.
You're going to hear all of thethings.

SPEAKER_05 (01:44):
But all of the things.

SPEAKER_01 (01:45):
Today, we feel like it's important to help you plan
your trip.
And therefore, the planning, alot of that involves where
you're going to stay.

SPEAKER_04 (01:54):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:55):
And then once you're there, you gotta eat something,
right?

SPEAKER_05 (02:00):
You could do the whole, you know, Jesus in the
desert fasting 40 days, becauseit is a desert.

SPEAKER_01 (02:04):
True.
But we probably don't advisethat because well, you know.
Yeah.
Pretty much.

SPEAKER_05 (02:09):
Not without some intense planning and having a
good plan.

SPEAKER_01 (02:14):
All right.
So we're going to tell you whereyou should actually eat.
And you know, Big Bend is somassive, so that's why we are
breaking this up into multipleepisodes to kind of just make
every episode not 10 hours long.
Um, or one 10-hour long episode,that's what I mean.
And so today we're going to talkabout the lodging around the Big
Bend area in the town ofTerlingua.

(02:36):
So previous episode we talkedabout Marathon.

SPEAKER_05 (02:39):
Which was awesome.

SPEAKER_01 (02:40):
Yes, you can stay there and get your fancy hotel.

SPEAKER_05 (02:43):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (02:43):
And now you call it Terlingua to stay.
You're probably going to beabout 40-ish minutes from the
entrance to the park.
And you're going to have somevery unique options.
We found a lot of uniqueoptions, and we're going to dive
into where we got to stay inTerlingua.
And then we're going to alsotalk about where to eat.

(03:06):
And we have a special interviewto share with you guys as well
from a local.
So we're going to be sharing allof that with you this episode.
And I think it'd be kind of funto just mention we talk about
this more in our interview, butsome of the unique stays that
you can have in Big Bend, you'vegot the gamut of what you want.

(03:28):
If you want dark sky quiet, orif you want to be able to just
like walk to food, or if youneed ghost town charm.

SPEAKER_05 (03:34):
I mean, it's all dark sky to begin with.
True.
Just depends on what kind ofdark sky you want.

SPEAKER_01 (03:39):
Well, yeah, that's true.
So you've got everything fromcabins to yurts to Teepees.
To like the little trianglehouses, like little A-frame
houses.

SPEAKER_05 (03:51):
But first Before we jump into all that.

SPEAKER_01 (03:54):
We need to talk about food because Roy and I are
foodies.
And so, yeah.
So we're going to dive into foodfirst.
Because, you know, that's theimportant thing.
All right.
One of the things I have tothrow in is that it's better to
throw in than throw up whenyou're talking about food.
So Yeah, which I did not do.

SPEAKER_05 (04:13):
Glad you said it like that.

SPEAKER_01 (04:14):
I got to go on a hike, a guided hike, which
you're going to hear about.
But my tour guide kept talkingabout how after his hikes that
he did every day, you know, thenhe's going to go into town and
get some tacos.
And so tacos were just like thething he kept talking about.
And after we kind of stayedthere longer and and enjoyed

(04:37):
more of the restaurants, we keptfinding that a lot of the food
had the whole Mexican flair.

SPEAKER_05 (04:42):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (04:43):
And so be you're going to be able to do that.
Right.
You're going to find otheroptions.
But I would say, like, at theend of the day, the majority of
places, I feel like the menuswere like Mexican flavored,
which was just perfectly allright with me being from New
Mexico.
I'm happy with that.
But there are lots of options.

(05:04):
Let's why don't we run down andlist all of the all of the
options?
Well, I don't know if they'reall of the options, but they're
all of the options we knowabout.

SPEAKER_05 (05:11):
All right.

SPEAKER_01 (05:12):
Okay.
DB's Rustic Iron Barbecue.

SPEAKER_05 (05:15):
It seems like I should have said that one being
a good one.
Okay, you then you okay.
You go right.

SPEAKER_01 (05:18):
Okay, so you said that.
Let's try that again.
Okay.

SPEAKER_05 (05:20):
DB's Rustic Iron Barbecue.

SPEAKER_01 (05:24):
You got TiVo's place.

SPEAKER_05 (05:25):
That's how you talk about a meat place.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (05:27):
Yeah, Vanga.
I'm the beginning.
Okay.
El Gordo's food truck.

SPEAKER_05 (05:31):
Chili Pepper or Chili Pepper Cafe.

SPEAKER_01 (05:33):
High Sierra Bar and Grill.

SPEAKER_05 (05:35):
Espresso Ipoco Mas.
But there's also Big BenStation.
Yeah, that's right.
You can get pre-packed lunchesfrom a lot of these places to
take into the park, which is agreat idea because once you're
in the park, you're in the park.

SPEAKER_01 (05:48):
And you've got the super cute grocery store.
You've got cottonwood that youcan go and get your lunch.
So that's an idea too.

SPEAKER_05 (05:54):
You've got the Long Draw Pizza.

SPEAKER_01 (05:56):
Yep, gotta go there.
Starlight Theater.

SPEAKER_05 (05:59):
We already said the tacaria.
So uh No, we didn't.
There's a separate place,Tacaria El Milagro.

SPEAKER_01 (06:06):
La Kiva.

SPEAKER_05 (06:07):
Milky Way Treats Ice Cream, which we did partake of.

SPEAKER_01 (06:10):
And then there's the far-flung Bella Bean coffee
shop.
So you've got kind of a lot ofoptions.
You do.
Yeah, you've got your littlecoffee shop, coffee stops, and
things like that.
So, Rory, why don't we kind ofjust spout out some of our
favorite?

SPEAKER_05 (06:25):
So I'll start with the barbecue because I had that
barbecue.

SPEAKER_01 (06:28):
So uh this guy won't be gonna have meat.

SPEAKER_05 (06:30):
He won like some big competition, maybe it uh was on
a TV show or something.
And so he won this competitionwith his barbecue and then
became famous.
So I can recommend that you tryDB's Rustic Iron Barbecue if
you're in the mood for barbecue.

SPEAKER_01 (06:43):
Right, it was pressworthy and and you approved
it too.

SPEAKER_05 (06:47):
Yep, it's good.
Oh, and they got I got a big oldbasket of uh fried okra.
Okay, that's good stuff.

SPEAKER_01 (06:54):
All right, it was huge for breakfast.
I loved the tostadas at Vanga.
And what's fun about Vanga isthat they had a lot of like
smoothies or fruits, and likeyou could just hop in there and
grab a to-go.
Loads of food options at Vanga.
Salads to-go and things likethat.

SPEAKER_05 (07:11):
And a cool hang if you want a place just to hang.

SPEAKER_01 (07:13):
And Chili Pepper Cafe.
So we did a quick uh to-go orderthere because you know we're
always on the on the go.
What I got there, they had avegetable enchilada.
And so there was like, so eventhough I'm still in the Mexican
vibe, that was a really goodplace to like insert some
veggies into the diet.

(07:34):
So because it was hard to find.

SPEAKER_04 (07:36):
Veggies in a desert.

SPEAKER_01 (07:37):
Yeah, it was.
It was hard, you know.
So they had their veggieenchilada had like broccoli and
cauliflower and something, youknow, I haven't normally seen.
So that was kind of fun thatthey had that option.
So you can check out that placefor a little bit more variety
within your Mexican contextthere.

SPEAKER_05 (07:54):
And our first, our first meal there, I think, was a
Mexican meal, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 (07:58):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (07:58):
And one of the one of the reasons we ate there is
because you gotta get there'ssome places there that if you
want to eat, you gotta get therereally early or make
reservations because they'rereally popular.
And and I thought this place wasreally good.

SPEAKER_01 (08:09):
Yeah, we we couldn't get into the other places, and
we'll talk about that in a quicksecond.

SPEAKER_05 (08:13):
But it was a a what?
A whatever moment wheresomething happens and it turns
out to be really good.

SPEAKER_01 (08:19):
Um serendipitous.

SPEAKER_05 (08:20):
Serendipitus serendipitus.

SPEAKER_01 (08:24):
Tuckiera El Milagra.

SPEAKER_05 (08:25):
Tust or serendipitus or serendipitus.

SPEAKER_01 (08:28):
I'm saying my Spanish incorrectly, so you will
just all say all those wordswrong right now.

SPEAKER_05 (08:32):
Yeah, so very serendipitous.

SPEAKER_01 (08:34):
But I loved whatever I got.
I think I got like cheeseenchiladas or spinach
enchiladas.
Something.
Anyway.

SPEAKER_05 (08:41):
Yeah, I got something too.

SPEAKER_01 (08:42):
And it was really good.

SPEAKER_05 (08:43):
Yeah, everything was really good.
Yeah, really enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_01 (08:46):
Tucked here.

SPEAKER_05 (08:47):
Nice outdoor patio setting and all this, covered
patio.
It was really nice.
And the weather, the oh, thetemperature was fantastic, so
that wasn't an issue.

SPEAKER_01 (08:55):
And then at the other Milagros, the espresso, we
had fun little breakfastburritos.

SPEAKER_05 (08:59):
Yeah, mine was excellent.

SPEAKER_01 (09:00):
Yeah, so that was fun.

SPEAKER_05 (09:01):
Really good.
La Kiva has a Oh, I also hadcoffee there.
Okay, coffee was good too.
Okay.
So, yeah, breakfast and coffee.

SPEAKER_01 (09:08):
La Kiva has this big long history.
A local there told us this wholelong story about La Kiva.
That's right.
And it's got like this cave andfolklore, big top.
And there's all this drumaround.
So that's like a little historicplace.
Like, if you want to get theinside scoop, you gotta go and
get the inside scoop.

SPEAKER_05 (09:26):
Yeah, so if you go there, ask about the inside
scoop.

SPEAKER_01 (09:29):
The inside scoop, speaking of scoops.

SPEAKER_05 (09:31):
Scoops, speaking of scoops.

SPEAKER_01 (09:33):
All right, now here's the deal.
We get there.
Now, if you listen to ourprevious episode, Samuel advised
us that, like in Marathon, a lotof the places you really want to
need to go like Thursday throughSunday.
Like if you want to grab thefood.
And we found that that was alittle bit of the case in
Trilingua as well, as like someof the places are not open

(09:55):
during the weekdays.

SPEAKER_05 (09:57):
Yeah.
And for example, yes.

SPEAKER_01 (10:00):
So the Milky Way tree.
So like we had geared all upthat we're gonna have Milky Way
ice cream for our dinner.
And we realized, oh no, they'reonly open like Saturday through
Monday.
So Saturday night, Sunday night,Monday night.
So we ended up having to go toCottonwood grocery so that we

(10:22):
could buy our own ice cream.
And I got the vegan ice cream,and Rory got um you got like a
butter pecan kind of something.
So we weren't sharing because Iwent the whole vegan route, and
they had those options and theyhad all of these cool options.
So if you're wanting likegrocery store or like cook your
own stuff, or if you want maybesome it might be cheaper than

(10:45):
eating out or something likethat, but their store is really
cool.
They have a lot of good optionsthat a lot of like healthy
options you wouldn't expect.
That's what I'm saying.
They're good.
Yeah, so brands that we like andtrust.
So if you're picky, like yeah,like someone who has red hair on
this episode.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (11:03):
Not gonna mention that her name's Alexa, but
right.

SPEAKER_01 (11:06):
So you can go to the store.
So that's what we did.
We got ice cream from the storethe first night because Milky
Way was closed, but then wefound out, oh, we're here when
they're open, and so we ended upgetting to eat there.
And did you like it?

SPEAKER_05 (11:21):
Because it's a dark sky area.
So everyone, even when theirlights are on, it they're it's
done in such a way so that it'snot creating too much light
pollution.
And so there's this really coolplace called the Boat House next
door.
It's like a bar and performancevenue kind of a thing, and
they're kind of connected by acourtyard-ish.

SPEAKER_01 (11:38):
Right.
And so And they also share thatspace with the food truck dead
hungry, and we ate from theretoo.

SPEAKER_05 (11:44):
Well, and here's the thing
mortar building, the boat houseis.
But then it's a food truckcamper kind of thing for the ice
cream place and also for DeadHungry.
Dead Hungry.

SPEAKER_01 (11:57):
Which we didn't put in our list, but it is a place
to eat, and it gets high ravesand reviews.

SPEAKER_05 (12:02):
Yeah, so if you have a sweet tooth and you want
something really sweet, the icecream place is the way to go.
I got their cookie crumblesomething or other.

SPEAKER_01 (12:10):
Like a Sunday thing that you got.
Yeah.
And then they also had like takehome pints.

SPEAKER_05 (12:15):
It was full of cookie crumble and all that.

SPEAKER_01 (12:17):
I mean, like and it's soft serve, and we like I
just my ice cream preferencesare more hard serve.
And so they had like these pintsto go.
And so that's what we did.
And they had a pumpkin one andcoffee one.

SPEAKER_05 (12:30):
I think in your general food preferences, you're
a pretty hard serve.
That's yeah, true.

SPEAKER_01 (12:35):
Burn out bong ching.
Thank you.
That was a great.

unknown (12:38):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (12:38):
So yeah, and Dead Hungry, we got a vegan soup
thing, and so that was like youate there without me.
No, I brought it home becauseyou got sick.

SPEAKER_05 (12:46):
Oh, that's right.
Oh, that was really good soup.

SPEAKER_01 (12:49):
Yeah, that's from Dead Hungry.
Totally unexpected.
That's why you didn't rememberit because you were laying down.

SPEAKER_05 (12:54):
Yeah, but the the soup was it was a completely
unexpected.
What was kind of vegetable soup?
What was it?

SPEAKER_01 (12:59):
Okay, we got like this coconut butter squash soup.
Oh and I was like, I told thelady, like, I'm sorry, I am not
a fan of coconut.
She said, Well, I don't thinkit's too strong.
So she let me taste it and itdid not taste coconut y, which
is why it was good.
And but up bunk.

SPEAKER_05 (13:18):
I like coconut and it was really whatever you do or
don't.
And it's good for you.
So you should eat coconut.
Yeah.
Uh it was like a puree kind of asoup.
I mean, the real thing.
Didn't like I don't think therewas any cans involved.

SPEAKER_01 (13:30):
Yeah, right.
Super good stuff.

SPEAKER_05 (13:32):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (13:32):
So that was Dead Hungry Food Truck.
I think another kind ofhighlight place that you need to
go to is the Starlight Theaterbecause it's in the historic
part.
Well, it's all historic, butit's part of like the ghost town
uh shopping area.

SPEAKER_02 (13:50):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (13:51):
What do you call it?
Like we would call that ashopping center if we were gonna
drive up.

SPEAKER_05 (13:54):
There's a little strip, like a little strip, but
it's so historic, it's not astrip mall like you'd think.

SPEAKER_01 (14:00):
It used to be a theater.
Yeah.
Now what did they tell youthough?

SPEAKER_05 (14:03):
I think I think we're gonna learn a lot more
about it in our the conversationthat's gonna come up after this,
right?

SPEAKER_01 (14:08):
Okay, so we'll talk about it.

SPEAKER_05 (14:09):
The history of it and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 (14:10):
Okay, so here's but here's your inside scoop on the
starlight.
You have to go at 4:30.
They open at 5.

SPEAKER_05 (14:19):
Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 (14:20):
And you have to stand in line at 4:30 so that
you can put your name in at 5o'clock.
And then what they do is theytext you, so that's really good.
You can put your name in.
And so what we did is we put ourname in, and then we went and
had our ice cream, and then wecame back and had our dinner at
the Starlight Theater.

SPEAKER_05 (14:40):
Made you really happy that you got to have your
ice cream first.

SPEAKER_01 (14:44):
Well, duh.
So that's what we did.
And that way, you know, weticked all our boxes.
And also, there is a very coolgift shop right next to the
Starlight Theater.
And so there's things that youcan walk around and enjoy while
you're waiting for.

SPEAKER_05 (15:00):
Again, these buildings were like well over a
hundred years old.
Very, very cool to walk throughand see and all that uh living
history.
So highly recommend all that.
Uh, highly recommend theStarlight Theater, it's very
cool.
And there was live music,there's a huge stage on there.
So there was live music while wewere eating.

SPEAKER_01 (15:18):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (15:19):
Didn't get ingestion or anything.

SPEAKER_01 (15:22):
I think we'll kind of just close out this food
section just pointing out thatthe Far Flung, which we're gonna
dive into, I think, in our neckuh next episode when we talk
about all the adventures we had.
Far Flung is where you can bookreally fun adventures and they
take you into the park so thatyou can enjoy these really fun
adventures.
But they have a coffee shopthere where you can grab a

(15:45):
breakfast or a lunch or coffeeor whatever you need before you
hit the road with them.

SPEAKER_05 (15:50):
And so if you're running late, grabbed a coffee
there.
Yeah, if you're running late,you're like, I don't have time
for breakfast.
I have to get there on time.
Just go and grab breakfastthere.

SPEAKER_01 (15:58):
Yeah, so really neat options, really fun places to
explore.
Yeah, and then the long drawpizza, just you know, good pizza
there.
So we've got to point that outto you.

SPEAKER_05 (16:08):
Yeah, it's long draw, not long draw, like I
implied, but it was nice the wayI said it, I thought anyway.
Long draw pizza.

SPEAKER_01 (16:16):
I think that's really good.

SPEAKER_05 (16:18):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (16:18):
Speaking of really good, our stay interlingua was
really good.
Our stays, we got to stay in twodifferent places.
Today we're gonna talk about oneof those places, which was a
yurt.
Y'all, a yurt.

SPEAKER_05 (16:32):
I've seen them for years.

SPEAKER_01 (16:34):
Like cool desert vibe.

SPEAKER_05 (16:36):
Well, not just desert vibe, but like cool uh
off the grid sort of hippie uhwhat vibe?
I'm not even sure what to callit.
Mongolian vibe.

SPEAKER_02 (16:46):
It was so cool.

SPEAKER_05 (16:47):
I've seen it in magazines and on TV, you know,
yurts.
And I'm like, what would it belike to stay in one?
Would I have a real toilet orwould I be using like this thing
with grass in it?

SPEAKER_01 (16:56):
Do you have to be like a real, a real am I gonna
have to go outside to shower orstand in the rain to get washed
off?

SPEAKER_05 (17:03):
Didn't know what to expect.
Wow, we were blown away.

SPEAKER_01 (17:06):
This was like four star, five star, five star?

SPEAKER_05 (17:09):
Five star.

SPEAKER_01 (17:10):
It was really, really lush and beautiful, and
everything you need is insidethe yurt.
So you had full bath and fullkitchen inside the yurt.

SPEAKER_05 (17:20):
Yeah.
How about that?

SPEAKER_01 (17:22):
And so hello.

SPEAKER_05 (17:23):
Actually, it wasn't full kitchenette.

SPEAKER_01 (17:25):
Okay, sorry.
Full bathroom and kitchen andfull kitchenette.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (17:29):
Big fridge though.
Big fridge and freezer.

SPEAKER_01 (17:31):
Yeah, I wasn't feeling like I was missing
anything.

SPEAKER_05 (17:33):
No, because we wanted to eat at the restaurants
there in Tillingua.
So it was great.
I mean, there and you're right,across the street from all the
restaurants and everything.
It is so wonderfully centrallylocated.

SPEAKER_01 (17:45):
It is.
You're kind of at the base ofwhere you would drive into the
main town of Tilingua and whereeverything is off of this one
main road.
You just exit your yurt and getinto and you're right there.

SPEAKER_05 (17:57):
And and they can see video of our yurt, right?
Yep.

SPEAKER_01 (18:01):
On our site.
I'm gonna post it.

SPEAKER_05 (18:04):
She's gonna post it.

SPEAKER_01 (18:06):
Right.
So you can hear this episode andthen follow us on social media.

SPEAKER_05 (18:09):
And be like, oh, that's what they were talking
about.

SPEAKER_01 (18:10):
Oh, look, that's what they were talking about.

SPEAKER_05 (18:12):
See, yeah, so you can see, yeah.
And do you know why Escondido isin their name?
Because they're hidden.
You're driving down the road,you don't see them.
Like you gotta turn off the roadand go down a little hill, and
they're just behind a littlerise.
You're I mean, you're literallyacross the street from
everything interlingua, butthey're private and secluded.

SPEAKER_01 (18:33):
And then you step out and you have this really fun
wide view.

SPEAKER_05 (18:37):
And you know what you're gonna have to do.

SPEAKER_01 (18:38):
And we loved it.
We love staying there.

SPEAKER_05 (18:39):
You're gonna have to post in this, like right after I
say this, you're gonna have toput in the coyotes.
The first night we get there andwe're like, it was really they
have like talking back andforth, and it was so fun.
The great thing is they didn'tdo it all night, they only did

(19:01):
it when the sun was going down,and then once it was totally
black, didn't hear people?

SPEAKER_01 (19:06):
One or two of them felt like they were human, so I
don't know if a human was likeinciting them to yell back.

SPEAKER_05 (19:12):
When you hear it, it wasn't roaring.

SPEAKER_01 (19:14):
I'm just saying that.

SPEAKER_05 (19:15):
No, no, it wasn't.

SPEAKER_01 (19:16):
Alright, so here's the coyotes.

SPEAKER_05 (19:33):
See what I told you?

SPEAKER_01 (19:34):
See?

SPEAKER_05 (19:35):
That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 (19:36):
Crazy.
We're gonna cut it.
This is not me.
We did not bring the cats.

SPEAKER_05 (19:40):
Oh, yeah, we talked about that.
So now that you know the settingof the whole thing, we're going
to jump into a wonderfulconversation we had with Jenny,
the yurt lady from DolinguaEscondido.

SPEAKER_01 (19:57):
Yes, she she owns and runs the yurts.
Terlingua escondido.

SPEAKER_05 (20:02):
Bienvenidos.
My Spanish is so bad.
We are here with Jenny Turner.
That's how it's official.
We're here with Jenny.
In Terlingua.
I want to say terlingua, butthey say more perlingua.
In Terlingua, Texas.
And would you guys also callthis Big Bend area?

SPEAKER_00 (20:21):
Yes.

SPEAKER_05 (20:21):
Okay.
Yes.

SPEAKER_00 (20:22):
Yeah, the whole region is kind of referred to as
Big Bend.
Okay, the whole region.
And Terlingua is is the closesttown to the entrance.

SPEAKER_05 (20:30):
Alright, so we just officially met Jenny this
morning, but we stayed in heryurt, y'all.

SPEAKER_01 (20:35):
And we are recording this in one of her yurtts.

SPEAKER_05 (20:39):
One of her yurts.

SPEAKER_01 (20:40):
And we're you're gonna hear all about that.
So we're very, very excited tobe in the yurt because it just
has such a great feeling.

SPEAKER_05 (20:46):
I've seen them for years.
I've always wanted to stay inone and thought, what would that
be like?

SPEAKER_01 (20:50):
When we had the chance, we're like, we're gonna
be like in the desert and in ayurt.

SPEAKER_05 (20:54):
It's a perfect area.
Air conditioned, heated, it'sgot a full yeah, a full bathroom
and plumbing and the smallcontinuous.
Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 (21:03):
It's like full-on, you know, five-star.
But anyway, we're gonna talkfirst.
We're gonna get back to that.
Jenny, we want to hear aboutkind of your history with the
town because you didn't justcome here to invest in pro
rental property, which I'm suresome people do.
You have a really cool localhistory, so we'd love to hear

(21:24):
about that.

SPEAKER_00 (21:24):
Okay, yes.
So I was a river guide inColorado.
And what?
Yes, I I guided the Arkansas,the upper Colorado, the Grand
Canyon.
I was a river guide up andaround Colorado.

SPEAKER_02 (21:34):
That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 (21:35):
I had a friend move here and she said, Oh, Jenny,
you're gonna love it.
You will love this.
And I'm like, Texas, there's nomountains in Texas.
What rivers in Texas?
I had no desire to move toTexas, but she was so
persuasive.
I moved here for a month to dothe spring break season.
Colorado, not a lot going on inMarch.
The month of March is reallybusy here, and so I said, Okay,

(21:55):
I'll come for March.
And I never left.
I fell in love with it.
She was right.
This was home, and I stayed.
And in the summer, my husband,who grew up on a ranch 12 miles
north of Turlingua, he saw thatI was still here in June.
And in the 90s, people didn'tspend the summers here.
They came because it's so hot,it's so hot.

SPEAKER_01 (22:16):
But I can totally see why what attracted you to
the place.
It's super fun.

SPEAKER_00 (22:20):
Anyway, the bartender at the Starlight at
the time had t-shirts made upsaying summer survivor.
So you you got you got your credif you stayed the summer.
Yeah.
Well, I was still here in June.
Okay.
Scott asked me out, and the restis history.
I never left.
We got married a year later, hada kid the following year, and
that's why I'm here.
But he grew up on a on Three BarRanch, which is a three bar

(22:42):
ranch.
Three Bar Ranch, which is downSouth County Road, down 12 miles
of bad dirt road.
He had to take the kids drivedown that dirt road, pick up his
friend Gabriel, drive to the busstop, and then an hour to school
because there was no high schoolback then.
On the bus.
So where did they go to schoolthen?
In Alpine.
They had to go to Alpine to goto school.

(23:03):
So he had to get up at 4 30 inthe morning to get off the ranch
to get to school.
So he's hit that's a wholenother story.
But so we we met, I was alreadyhere, I decided I was gonna
stay, and um, then we had ourbaby, and we actually rented one
of the ruins in the ghost town.
So the ghost town was a athriving mining enterprise in

(23:24):
around the turn of the century.
And during World War I, itprovided Mercury for the war
effort.
By World War II, they hadstopped using Mercury so much
and it kind of died down.
So it was a ghost town, aliteral ghost town for 20, 30
years.
And then in the 60s, kind of thecounterculture, musicians,
artists, um, you know, peopletrying to get off grid, they

(23:45):
discovered that the place.
So 60s and 70s, it kind ofstarted building up.
Well, in the 70s, uh, a coupleof guys, well, several people
came down and started doingriver trips.
And Far Flung Adventures is whoI worked for.
But he they started it in the70s.
And we did a Jeep tour withFarflung.
Oh, okay.
So the the new owners ofFarflung are different than the

(24:06):
the original owners.
Right.
So they're they still have anoutfit in Taos, the old timers
that started Far Flung thatstarted the big river enterprise
here.
Are they still out there?

SPEAKER_03 (24:15):
So now they're in New Mexico.

SPEAKER_00 (24:16):
They're in Taos.
And they they had they had twolocations, Taos and down here,
and they sold the one down here.
But um, but anyway, so I wasworking for Far Flung.
We got married, found out I waspregnant.
So I started working in theoffice.
But then so we talked to BillIvey and we rented one of the
ruins.
So the the mining houses are allthe rock homes you see in the

(24:37):
ghost town.
Yes.
Where all the miners lived inthe rock houses.
And a lot of people had startedbuilding, like refinishing,
building the walls, puttingroofs on them, and making them
livable.
We still had an outhouse, but wehad we had we called the Taj
Mahalov outhouses.
It was ginormous, had abeautiful view of the Chisos.
I mean, it was there was anoutdoor bathtub, Bogan Villa.

(24:59):
It was gorgeous.
So that's where we lived whenwhen we had our our daughter.
So kind of in the 90s, it wasstill kind of a ghost town.
People were starting to move inand starting to build up the
buildings in town.
Um, and you were talking aboutthe Perry Mansion.
The Perry Mansion was a ruin atthat time.
A lot of the buildings that arefinished out now were ruins.

(25:20):
The Holiday Hotel, where theyhave hotel rooms right now, that
was where the river guideslived.
Okay.
It was called the Big BenHoliday Hotel.
That's where the river guideslived in little apartments back
there behind the Starlight.
Okay, okay.
The Starlight Theater is namedthat because it didn't have a
roof.
When my husband was a a boyhere, there was no roof on the
Starlight.
Come on.
And he said they would havedances and parties and all the

(25:40):
kids would hang out and gigfrogs in the puddles after a
rain because there was no roof.
They actually put the roof onthe year before I got here.
So I I missed out on thatexcitement.
Right, right.

SPEAKER_05 (25:52):
Was it ever a th a movie theater?

SPEAKER_00 (25:55):
Um it was during the mining.

SPEAKER_01 (25:57):
During the mining and I want to interject as well.
You mentioned the like holidayhotel.
As we've driven around, I don'tthink I've seen a there hasn't
been a chain hotel at all here.

SPEAKER_00 (26:11):
No.
No chain.

SPEAKER_01 (26:12):
But not even like what we would think of as a
hotel here, right?
There are there hotels.
There are three.
There are three hotels technicalhotels or motels or whatever.
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (26:24):
So the one right across the street, the high
Sierra, they've changed the nameof it.
It was the El Dorado Hotel.
I think they're calling it theGhost Town Hotel now.
It's the two-story behind thehigh Sierra Bar and Growth.
Okay.
So that's the thing.

SPEAKER_01 (26:35):
We've seen that just as a restaurant, but it does
have a hotel.
There's a hotel behind it.

SPEAKER_00 (26:38):
The two-story structure behind it is a hotel.

SPEAKER_01 (26:41):
Yeah, it's got all the fun lights in it.

SPEAKER_00 (26:42):
Um Big Ben Station is what they're calling it now,
but it was it's at theintersection of 170 and 118,
which they call the Y.

SPEAKER_04 (26:51):
Yes.

SPEAKER_00 (26:52):
There that is a uh more of a motel, but then the
Chisos Mining Company motel.
Okay.
Okay.
But no chains, no fancyeverything local.

SPEAKER_01 (27:02):
And what's so fun, that's one thing that makes this
town so unique and fun, is thatyou don't have that, right?
And you have so many uniquelodging experiences here.
Right.
Uh people this is a creativetown.
This is a town where you feelthat you have freedom to do
whatever, because I think fromeven from a legal standpoint,

(27:27):
there's a lot of grace.
Like we were just talking withum Jeff.
And you know, he's like, wedidn't have to have a permit for
this, this, and this.
We only had to have a permit forthis thing.
Right.
And so, you know, and just fromthe conversations we've had with
people, that it's like we have alot more uh open yeah, a lot
more freedom.
That's a good word.

SPEAKER_00 (27:47):
You could use it.
I'll use freedom.
And that's a reason why a lot ofpeople are here.

SPEAKER_03 (27:51):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (27:52):
And that's uh what drew a lot of people like me and
like the people that came andsettled in the 70s when there
really was nothing here.
Uh that kind of sense offreedom, and it's a good and a
bad thing.
Because we can do whatever wewant, but so can your neighbors.

SPEAKER_05 (28:05):
Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 (28:06):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_05 (28:07):
Are you really gonna do that?

SPEAKER_00 (28:08):
So, I mean, and uh my but my philosophy always has
been if you don't want somethingnext to you, buy the property.
Yeah, because you don't youcan't control what the neighbor
does because the only permittinghere is the septic system.
That's the same thing, Chris.
We're lucky here because we havea really good neighbor who was a
superintendent of Big BenNational Park at one time, and
he's been buying up the land inthis valley.

(28:31):
Okay.
So he uh several of the lotsbetween us and the Chisos he
bought to protect his views viewshed, which protects our view
shed.
Yeah, but that's true, yeah.
And and we've got so we got thisland.
So this property, we were livingin the ghost town in the rock
house with the big, beautifulouthouse.
My daughter was reaching pottytraining age, and I didn't want

(28:54):
her to fall in.
So I'm I was like, we need ahouse, we need a house with the
running with the indoorplumbing.
Yes.
So um Scott's family was reallygood friends with the white
family who owns the Terlinguastore.
Carolina and Arturo were thematriarch and patriarch of the
family.

(29:14):
They're gone now.
Their daughter Delia still runsit, but that's where the chili
cook-off happens behind thestore.
The original chili cook-off isbehind their store.
Well, his family was very goodfriends with them, and we went
and talked to Arturo and said,we want a piece of land way far
off the road because we didn'twant close neighbors, and he
said, No, no, no, sillychildren, right?
You don't know what you want.
And he brought us here becauseit had water, electricity, and

(29:38):
the ability to build us.
I mean, we could have everythinghere that we needed to have
indoor plumbing, where right wayoff the road, you can't always
get that.
You can't always getelectricity, it's it's expensive
to run too far away from theroad.
But it was already here.
So he picked this spot for us,and we said, okay, I guess
that'll work.
And thank you, Arturo, forpicking this spot for us because

(29:59):
it's it's ideal.
We we lived here, we raised ourdaughter, my husband's mom had a
place to live.
You know, we it's been thefamily home until about four
years ago when uh she had tomove away for medical issues.
Because we were never gonna doanything in her backyard,
because that would just not becool.

SPEAKER_02 (30:14):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (30:15):
So um, when she had to move away for medical issues,
we said, well, you know, maybethis is our chance.
Everybody, all of our localfriends were supporting
themselves, all the old riverguides and the people that we've
known forever were building oneor two Airbnbs to for their
retirement to supportthemselves, support their their
lifestyle in retirement, whichis very, very modest here.

(30:37):
People don't need or require orwant a lot.
That's not why people move here.
So I said, Well, you know what?
Let's do that.
And we we looked at all thedifferent things, shipping
containers, Adobe, how we did.
Well, we went back up toColorado and we stepped into a
the Colorado Yurt Company wherethey build where they they build
the set the kits and they shipthem to you.

(30:58):
Okay, and we walked into a yurtand I said, This is it.
This is it's just the feeling ofcalm and comfort and I uh and
the the dome and just everythingabout it.

SPEAKER_05 (31:08):
Yeah, I loved it at night.

SPEAKER_00 (31:09):
You can lay down the city.

SPEAKER_01 (31:11):
Because we're in a dark sky area, and so it's it's
just like perfect for that.
It it really is.

SPEAKER_00 (31:18):
And so when we stepped into the yurt, we were
done looking, this is what we'regonna do.
We came back.
Yeah, we just knew.
And a really good friend ofours, who was a a really good uh
musician, and he played in abluegrass, he played in all
kinds of bands around here, butum he had been a yurt builder
for the last 20 years.
We were river guides together.

SPEAKER_03 (31:35):
Did you know that before?
No.

SPEAKER_00 (31:37):
We came back, and another river guide friend said,
You need to call Mark Lewis.
He built, he's been the last 20years, he's been in the Pacific
Northwest building yurts.
And so he came over and the thefoundation is his design, and
when they were building it, wewere laughing.
When the yurts are gone,there'll be helicopter pads,
they're not going anywhere.

SPEAKER_05 (31:55):
I saw it's all steel structure.

SPEAKER_00 (31:57):
It's all steel, they went like eight, eighteen inches
down.
I mean, they're they're way inthe ground, but it's not going
anywhere.
Anyway, he it was his design, hebuilt the frame, and then a
really good friend of ours atthe time was working and and
helped him put them up.
And we we did our researchbecause it gets really windy
down here.
But we these were built towithstand harsh weather on the

(32:18):
Mongolian steppes, okay is thehistory of the year.
So when we did a littleresearch, they're designed to
withstand 100 mile an hour ormore winds.
Yeah, so I said, you know what?
We're this is what we need.
And it's um they stay cool inthe summer, warm in the winter.
Uh, we did the snow and windpackage, so we've got extra
insulation and extra framingwhich you need it for the

(32:41):
summer, even yep, yeah.
Yeah, and we we're not sorry, inthe summer when it's slow.
This is our house.
My three-year-old granddaughtercalls it the Terlingua house.
This is where we stay in thesummer when we're not renting
them.
Oh, that's great.
Yep.
So that's great.

SPEAKER_05 (32:55):
Yeah, we're shooting in one of her yurts.
Yes, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 (32:58):
Yeah, yes.
And so Cinnabar yurt, the onethat you stayed in, is named
after the ore that they mine inthe ghost town.

SPEAKER_05 (33:04):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (33:04):
That they turned into mercury.

SPEAKER_05 (33:06):
Yeah, which I hadn't heard about heard of until we
came here.
Until we did the Jeep Jeep tour.
And Chris explained to us.
Right, and then we knew whatCinnabar is.
Yes.

SPEAKER_00 (33:15):
So now you know why it's called Cinnabar Yurt.
Yes.
Yes.

SPEAKER_05 (33:17):
When we pulled up the first line, I had no idea.
And then we took the tour, and Iwas like, oh, that makes sense.
That's what it is.

SPEAKER_01 (33:21):
Yeah, it makes sense.
And it's not exciting thingbecause I'm the only one who
doesn't know.

SPEAKER_03 (33:27):
I'm glad you didn't know you were.
I thought I thought Cinnabon?
Cinnamon.
No, cinnamon.

SPEAKER_01 (33:32):
Cinnamon.
And I just thought, you know,the the color of the yurt is a
cinnamon color.
So I just thought that, youknow, and and then we're now
we're in the sage cell.
Sage yurt is more obvious.
Yes.
Is there is there a local tie-inwith sage at all?

SPEAKER_00 (33:45):
Just because we have a lot of sage going, and the the
leaves on the sage are kind ofthis this color of green.
Yeah.
How's the yurt?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Cool.

SPEAKER_05 (33:54):
Now you were you were telling us about the Perry
Mansion and that uh somethingabout when they built it and
them moving in or not moving in,or well, no.

SPEAKER_00 (34:02):
Um so Perry was the owner of the Chisos mining
company that um it that was inthe ghost town.

SPEAKER_05 (34:09):
Okay, so that they're the their mining company
is the reason the ghost townexists.

SPEAKER_00 (34:13):
That's the reason that all of the structures are
there.
So Mr.
Perry, I don't remember hisfirst name.
Hopefully, Bill can tell me.

SPEAKER_03 (34:19):
I'm sure it was always Mr.
Perry.

SPEAKER_00 (34:21):
Mr.
Perry.
No one knows his first name.
He built the trading company,which was where the the miners
could trade in their tokens.
The same building?
Yes, that trading company iswhere the miners would go buy
their supplies, their food,their whatever sundries they
needed.
Right next to it, you you sawwhat looks like a water tank.

(34:44):
That was where we've gotpictures from the mining days
with people with their burrowswould come up with their wooden
water barrels on the back of theburrow, fill your water up and
take it back to your little rockhouse.
The miners built the rockhouses, but Perry built the um
the trading company and thetheater, and they're all the
same building, and a school anda church.

(35:05):
So all of the buildings in theghost town were the church up on
the hill.
The church on the hill, yes,it's Santa Inez now, and they
hold Episcopal church servicesthere.
There are three Episcopalchurches that share a traveling
priest.
Today.
Today's itinerant priest.
Itinerant priest, yes.
Terlingua, Marfa, and Alpine.
There are three churches thatthe priest in the Big Ben region

(35:28):
visits every third Sunday.
And the priest at the time whenmy daughter was born and we
lived in the rock ruin, JudyBurgess was her name.
She came to our house andbaptized my daughter on our rock
porch under the Bogan Villa withthe Chisos Mountain View.
It was perfect.
It's so neat.
Wow.
Wow.
Yeah, really.

SPEAKER_01 (35:48):
Such a neat memory and tie-in.

SPEAKER_00 (35:50):
Back in the day, so we were married in the little
church in Lahidas.
There's a little church, andit's kind of overwhelmed now by
condos.
You have to kind of know whereit is.
Gotcha.
At the time it was very obviousfrom the road, but then they
built condos around it.
But um, but it's Saints Mary andJoseph, and it's a little church
that's been there since thePancho Villa days.
And I back then, and I believestill today, the Catholic priest

(36:13):
from Presidio travels to thatchurch to do services.

SPEAKER_05 (36:16):
Wow, that would be cool just to see it.

SPEAKER_00 (36:18):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (36:19):
I love history.
And so the the the decade ofthat when all when he built all
this, do you know?

SPEAKER_00 (36:23):
It was right around the turn of the century, and it
was a booming enterprise untilprobably the early 20s, late
teens, early twenties.
And then um it was it wasbooming during the war effort
World War I.

SPEAKER_03 (36:33):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (36:34):
Because they used the mercury in weapons.

SPEAKER_03 (36:36):
And the bombs and stuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (36:37):
Yep.
But by World War II they hadfound alternatives that were
less toxic, less toxic and maybeeasier to get to hold of and
whatever.

SPEAKER_01 (36:45):
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (36:45):
But um But yeah, so Perry built his mansion, and
then the story I've heard isthat he built this mansion for
his wife.
So his wife would want to comedown, but she came down here and
she said, Absolutely not, I'mnot living here.
I don't know that she everstayed there for any extended
length of time.
And um, so that's the story withthe mansion.
But when I moved here, it was aruin, and Bill's come in and

(37:05):
turned it into a beautiful I'vewe had a barbecue restaurant,
we've catered weddings there,and I mean it's just a gorgeous
setting.
It's a beautiful place to staynow.

SPEAKER_05 (37:14):
Yeah, yes, yeah, totally.
So basically, Perry built hiswife a beautiful home.
She said, I'm not gonna livethere, and he said, Okay, it's
gonna be abandoned.

SPEAKER_00 (37:21):
Yeah, pretty much.
I don't know how much theyactually lived there after they
built it, but it's the PerryMansion.
Okay, all right, love it.

SPEAKER_01 (37:28):
Well, we did get to stay there last night, and we
stayed in the green room and hadthis gorgeous bathroom and all
of that.
So we've had amazing lodgingexperiences while we've been
here and as we've been drivingaround just seeing so many
unique things.
And again, like I feel like alot of that is inspired by the
freedom to have creativity here.

(37:50):
Oh, yes, you know.
Um now, are you the only yurtsout here?
Because I'm not okay.

SPEAKER_00 (37:56):
We're not so um actually, right when we were
starting to talk about it, we werealized that the local chapter,
which is right outside Big BendNational Park, okay.

SPEAKER_01 (38:04):
I've seen the sign, but I had no idea what that was.
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (38:07):
They were building yurts, so they have maybe eight
or ten.
Okay.
We've been running a hotel up inFort Davis, and we wanted to
downsize.
So we said we're just buildingtwo.
We brought one of our littlecabins down and we said we're
done.
Because we don't we we're justlooking for a retirement plan,
not something to keep us busier.
Right.
Um but the but the localchapter, I think they have eight

(38:28):
or ten yurts now, and it's rightas you're going into the park,
and there is a campground on thethere's a back road behind the
school, which is on the way tothe park, and they have one
yurt.
So we we're not the only, butthere's only two others that I
know about.

SPEAKER_05 (38:43):
Yeah, yeah.
So I did see uh along those samelines of so many places that you
can choose to stay at that areso different.
They have the painted ladies,which is looks like old RVs.

SPEAKER_01 (38:54):
The old airstreams, yeah, old airstreams that they
painted to look like differentand lots of villas, like we've
seen the triangle one, theA-frames, yeah, and then teepees
even across the road.

SPEAKER_00 (39:03):
Yeah, yeah.
The teepees came first.
And and when we first startedseeing the teepees go up, well,
my husband's a historian, andthe Indians that were here
didn't live in teepees.
The Indians that stayed here hadeither huts or they were mobile.
The so we're right on theComanche Trail.
Okay.
So they would they were livingmore on the plains, but they

(39:24):
would raid into Mexico throughLa Hitas was the main the main
crossing.
Okay of the it's so one goesthrough Fort Stockton and one
comes down through La Hidas.
Um but but the they didn't livehere in teepees.
So when we first started seeingteepees, and when we first
started talking about Yurch, wesaid the same thing.
They didn't live in teepeeshere.

(39:46):
But the the climate and theweather are so similar to where
they were used that we're like,well, we can we can just let it
slide.

unknown (39:54):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (39:55):
Well, we can let it slide.
I would think but it is funhaving the variety and and the
creative.
Creativity to build all thedifferent things.

SPEAKER_05 (40:02):
Yeah, I would think living here, a mud hut will be
way cooler in the summer than asummer.
Adobe and mud.
Yeah, totally.
So yeah, it's cool.
I mean, it's really drivingaround, you see so many
different things.

SPEAKER_01 (40:14):
Yeah.
It's just and lots of like RVcamping and lots of like
campers.
There's lots of like, I guessthey're just campgrounds.
Do they call them campgrounds?
People can bring their own, butit looks like they can just rent
them too.

SPEAKER_00 (40:25):
Yes, yes, yes.
So a a lot of people have boughtthe airstreams and restored
them.
There are actually some reallycool airstream rentals nearby
and out on Turlingo Ranch.
Um but also during the COVIDshutdown, RVs and camping became
popular because you weren't likeright up, you were separated.
Separated, yep.
So the a lot of RB RV parkspopped up during COVID and the

(40:49):
campgrounds.
And then the the rise of hipcamp, which is kind of like
Airbnb for campers, so there's alot of hip camp sites.

SPEAKER_01 (40:56):
We have mentioned that on our glamping episode.
So we we have them in well, I'lladd them to the show notes for
this episode as well.

SPEAKER_00 (41:03):
But yeah, but yes, yeah.
So the RVs, RV, rental RVs, RVsites, camping, they they kind
of became popular during the itlooks like and the popularity.

SPEAKER_01 (41:16):
Now we are here in November, and that seemed like a
really great time to come.
We did an episode with JenniferBroom who said you need to go to
Big Ben Park in the winter, andso that we were like, okay,
well, let's do it.
So it's super cool that we'regetting to come now.
Is this high season for youbecause the summer is so hot?
Like, what's your busy time?

(41:37):
And when's the best time tovisit?
That it's not the busy time, butit's still great to see.

SPEAKER_00 (41:41):
So, probably the best weather, my favorite time
is the fall.
If we have a good monsoonseason, everything's green, the
rivers are running.
So mid-July throughmid-September is the monsoon
season.
Sometimes it'll go into October.
If we have a good monsoonseason, the high water goes into
October, which it did this yearbecause we had a great summer
for rain.

(42:02):
Oh, great.
It kind of has been eight or tenyears since we've had that.
So it was it was a great summer.
So the fall, the temperaturesare cooler, it's greener,
there's water.
Uh the most popular time isspring break.
So we're the busiest in March.
March, most of the month ofMarch and all the way through
April and even into early May.
Then the temperatures get hotand we'll have a few busy

(42:24):
weekends through the summer, butnot not a lot of business over
the summer.

SPEAKER_05 (42:28):
They have to be able to endure the heat to come in
the summer.

SPEAKER_01 (42:32):
Yes, yes.
Our Jeep guide Chris told usit'd be like 120 in the summer.

SPEAKER_00 (42:36):
It can be 120 in the summer.

SPEAKER_01 (42:38):
You might as well be in Arizona as well.
I mean, kind of the samesituation.

SPEAKER_00 (42:41):
And some people like to come in the summer because
it's not as crowded.
So we do have a certainpopulation of people that come
just in the summer because it'snot as crowded, and as long as
you get off the trail by 10 inthe morning, you know, the sun's
up early, you can get up andhike early, come back for a
siesta.
Right.
Um be out in the heat.

SPEAKER_01 (42:59):
Even a evening hike, like a late even, you know, or
late afternoon hike as well.

SPEAKER_00 (43:04):
Late way late afternoon, yeah, because the
sun's setting so late.
Um but yeah, early morning, lateevening hikes, and uh, like I
said, it's just hide indoors andthe AC in between.
Exactly.
And that's where the siestacomes from.
Yeah.
There's a reason for that.
That's too hot.
That's when that's when you goinside in the AC and and rest or
in the shade of a tree.
Yeah, that's right.

(43:24):
And conserve energy.
So the only downside to thewinter, most of the time the
weather's mild.
It can be it's perfect weatherunless we have an ice storm.
Which we uh we used to do guidedtours into Big Bend with Elder
Hostel, educational travel foradults over 50.
Okay.
Um so we did when our jointsgave out and we weren't doing
river trips, we all starteddoing the bus tours.

(43:45):
So we're still guiding, but on abus, not a boat.

SPEAKER_01 (43:48):
We'll have to do an episode around that and find out
what that is.

SPEAKER_00 (43:51):
There was one year that we got in and it we were
eating dinner at the starlightand it started sleeting, and we
had reservations in the basin.
If we didn't get to the basin,we weren't gonna have a place to
stay with these 30 people allover 50.
So we we hurried up and ate andwe got into the basin right as
it started sleeting, and theyclosed the road behind us.

(44:11):
So the next morning we woke upto a closed basin, nobody in or
out, but everything was coveredin beautiful frost.
It was a winter wonderland.
So we while we were stranded,um, we the Cheeso Slide opened
up and made everybody hotchocolate and we found some
Canadians playing Euchre and we,you know, we we we um we all

(44:32):
just gotta go up north to findEuchre.
Yep, yep.
Um and and then we did a littlehike around the window, the the
Basin Luke Trail, and the bestpictures ever.
So you know, it it's it can beit can be challenging, it can be
dangerous even a little bit ifyou're not prepared.
Right, but but it's it can alsobe beautiful.

SPEAKER_05 (44:51):
Yeah, extreme harsh environments.

SPEAKER_00 (44:52):
Extreme cold to hot.
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (44:55):
It seems like as we've been able to meet people
and and just be here for severaldays, it's instead of just like
one night, you know, it's justnice to kind of like settle in
and learn more about the cultureand the people here and all
that.
We've kind of observed that youhave such a great community here
because you have such a harshenvironment.

(45:15):
And so you all you all have tokind of give grace to each other
and and be willing to kind ofhelp each other out and be
willing to take watch out foryour neighborhood.
Even if your neighbor is kind ofweird and creative.
Oh, yeah.
Even if they do mess up yourview, you're still gonna love
them and you're still gonna likehang in there with them and all
of that.

SPEAKER_00 (45:34):
Um, but it's even if we don't love them, we're there
when they need us.

SPEAKER_01 (45:37):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (45:39):
And that's loving them.
Yes, yes.
Even if you don't feel somethingnice and else towards them, you
still have to be able to dothat.
You'll love them and not likethem.
But it it totally is a communitythat that rallies around anybody
having hardship and and we'rethere for each other.
Yes.
Yeah, I like that.

SPEAKER_05 (45:53):
You said we may not like them, but we love them.

SPEAKER_00 (45:54):
But yeah, they're they're family.
Anybody who's lived here for anylength of time, they become
family because we've all enduredthe same hardship than we if
they can earn a summer survivort-shirt, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 (46:07):
Like we're golden, they're in.

SPEAKER_00 (46:10):
We have more reliable electricity and
everybody has air conditioners,so summer it's people, more
people are staying in this.

SPEAKER_01 (46:16):
Yeah, I mean that's what I wanted to point out.
Like here in the yurt, we hadgreat AC and just like the
temperature's perfect.
And you know, you're talkingabout in the summer heat, you
can come have a nap.
You can come have a nap in thisawesome yurt with cool air
blowing on you.
And all of the amenities, youknow, we've got a full freezer
and fridge, and you know, enoughkitchen and bath.

(46:38):
And I love the floor plan, it'slaid out really well.
It's kind of one room, but it'sseparated where the bathroom is
separate and the kitchen isseparate.
You know, like you have thesesections in this open area.

SPEAKER_00 (46:49):
It's so great.
I not very many yurts at when wewere looking had all the
amenities.
A lot of yurt pla no, I thinkthe local chapter does have the
bathrooms inside, but a lot ofthe yurt places we were looking
at have bathhouses.
I was afraid where you have towalk to a shared bathhouse.
And we contemplated that.
And I said, no.
I said I would not stay becauseit's where where we are now in

(47:12):
our lives, we would not wedidn't have air conditioning, we
didn't have indoor plumbing, butwe were in our 20s.
Yeah.
At this stage in our life, wewouldn't stay at a place that
didn't have a bathroom inside.
Totally.
So um I so I looked and lookedand looked, and I found floor
plans that kind of worked, andand I tweaked it and I I drew it
on a napkin.
And um great a really goodfriend who's a local contractor

(47:34):
who is uh is he did all the tilework, he built it all.
I showed him the napkin drawingand he created it, he made it
happen.

SPEAKER_03 (47:42):
Oh, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 (47:43):
Yeah, Southwest Airlines started on a napkin
too.
So you're right in good company.

SPEAKER_00 (47:48):
You just you sketch out and say, This is how I want
it, and then and then theplumber came in and said, You
need this much space for, youknow, and we we together we all
figured it out and made it work.

SPEAKER_05 (47:57):
But well, and that's great.

SPEAKER_00 (47:58):
And it feels so spacious in here.

SPEAKER_05 (48:00):
Yeah, we've made specific housing decisions on
over the summer travelingoverseas, determined by I have
to go outside to use the toiletand share the showers.
And like you said, in my 20s,I'm not in my 20s anymore, FYI.
In my 20s, we do stuff likethat, but now I'm kind of over
it.
I don't know if you're not gonnabe able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 (48:19):
I don't even know if you're done it or not.
I don't even know if in my 20s Iwould have signed up for that,
you know.
Not that and like even if evenif we did that now, yeah.
I mean, even if we did that now,it would be fine, but it's like
I would much rather this, right?
Right, yes, yes, yes, yes.
This is just yeah, and and itwhat I love is you're getting
this whole desert experience,but you're like enjoying it.

(48:44):
You know what I mean?
Like, you can go rough it outthere in the park, but you don't
have to rough it in your house,also, right?
You can kind of work.
Yeah, which you will do.
That way you have like, youknow, both the best of both
worlds.
And that's I like to just haveto not choose.
Like, I don't, you know.
So this way you get all thebenefits.

SPEAKER_05 (49:05):
Okay, so Jenny, tell tell us how people can find you
to rent your yurt.

SPEAKER_00 (49:10):
Okay.
Uh, we're called turlinguaescondido.
When we were building them, wecouldn't come up with the name.
We're all these people around ushave these really clever names,
and we're trying to be clever.
Well, our friend who was helpingbuild the yurts, he's he just
looked at Scott one day and hesaid, Can you see these from the
road?
And we said, Well, no, youcan't.
And he said, Well, it'sescondido, which means hidden.
Okay.
So we are called TerlinguaEscondido.

SPEAKER_05 (49:33):
Then you can't see them till you drop over the hill
and come down.

SPEAKER_00 (49:36):
So we're on Airbnb, we have a website, we're on
Facebook and Instagram,Terlingua Escondido.

SPEAKER_01 (49:41):
Okay, great.
That's all.
We will put links to all of thatin our show notes that you guys
can go visit the show notes inthe description and be able to
click and book.

SPEAKER_05 (49:50):
Because we know you will.

SPEAKER_01 (49:51):
We you you yeah, you must.
So, Jenny, thank you so much.
This has been really so fun tolearn a little bit about the
history, your history, learnabout the town, and just these
wonderful year.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, thank you.
I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 (50:07):
Glad that you got to stay the year and that you liked
it.

SPEAKER_05 (50:09):
Me too.
Jenny, thank you so much for theyear.
That was super fun.
And it's so great to meet you,it's so easy to talk to.
Yeah, Jenny's really fun.

SPEAKER_01 (50:20):
So if you stay at the year and you get to meet
her, yeah, connect with her.

SPEAKER_05 (50:24):
Yeah, she's super fun, so try and connect with her
if you stay in her year.
Even if you don't.
You don't want to miss our nextepisode.
We will be talking about ouradventures, our big adventures
in Big Bend National Park.

SPEAKER_01 (50:40):
All the good stuff.
We're gonna just dive into thepark itself.
We hope we've inspired you thisepisode.
So join us next time.
Please subscribe, too, rate, andshare our podcast with your
friends.
And please like and follow us onInstagram, YouTube, and

(51:00):
Facebook.

SPEAKER_05 (51:04):
We are at the A T.
R O A M I E S and our website atwww.com.com.

SPEAKER_01 (51:21):
We'll be there until next time.