We visited Alpine in December 2018 as part of Big Trip #2. Read about our first visit earlier in 2018 here, and our third visit in 2021 here.

Alpine is just the quirkiest little town waaaaaay out in the desert of West Texas, a 30-minute drive from also-quirky Marfa, and 100 miles from Big Bend National Park. It’s a fantastic base for trips into the National Park: it has some yummy food, a tiny bit of nightlife, a surprisingly well-stocked grocery, and even a brewery! We stayed there in January and were excited to return for two nights bookending a stay inside the National Park (and read about our third visit in early 2021 visit here).

Bonus: we randomly had friends in town! One drove from Chicago and one from Atlanta, and they met in Alpine to prep for a motorcycle trip through the Copper Canyon area of Mexico. What a treat it was to show off our little Alpine to friends–and they even drove to Big Bend to hike with us after we moved into the park! Friends don’t let friends go to West Texas and not see Big Bend.

Campground

We stayed at Lost Alaskan RV Park once again. It’s spacious, clean, and friendly; we’ll stay there again.

Our friends stayed at Antelope Lodge and said the cottages suited them perfectly with plenty of space out front for them to tinker with their bikes.

Eating

Our food priorities this visit were food truck-centric: breakfast burritos at G-Ma’s, and Japanese takeout from FishCat. FishCat was closed both nights we were in town… or maybe just closed-closed: the internet says they are no longer.

G-Ma’s has the best breakfast in town (although it’s the only breakfast we’ve had in town) and G-Ma is the friendliest food truck proprietor you’ll meet. On our last morning, to fuel our marathon drive to Austin, we got burritos from G-Ma and left a present (keep reading for more about that) with her for our buddies, who would be coming back through town a week later.

We wanted an easy dinner our first night in town, so we picked up delicious Mexican food at yet another food truck, La Calavera, and took it to Harry’s (keep reading to learn about Harry’s)–it was too chilly to eat outside on La Calavera’s fantastic patio.

And finally, our last night in Alpine, after eating at home for a few nights in the National Park, we wanted to go somewhere a bit fancier. The Century Bar at the historic Holland Hotel was hopping, and our small plates and cocktails were tasty enough. It was no FishCat, though.

Drinking

Our very first stop in town was Big Bend Brewing, of course! We met our buddies there and caught up over tasty beers at a picnic table in the shadow of giant beer tanks.

We left the brewery, picked up La Calavera, and camped out at Harry’s Tinaja to watch a football game. It must have been the Redskins; I didn’t pay much attention. The regulars at Harry’s are so welcoming, and Harry is a character. Much of the ceiling is decorated with Sharpied dollar bills, so after we left our new dollar (first dollar went up last January), J had the idea to leave a dollar for our friends upon their return to Alpine. That’s the present we left at G-Ma’s: a dollar bill, with instructions to hang it at Harry’s… and a couple Big Bend Brewing koozies.

Yeah, I didn’t take many photos in Alpine, but I took a gazillion in Big Bend, so get excited for the next post!