It's official, I am in love with Marfa. I had heard from many that it was amazing. My friend, Danny, has been out that way and come back with amazing images. I expected it to be cool but it was more than that. The sky alone is worth the long drive out there. I have never seen such an expansive sky! The clouds are something to behold as well. It was sad to drive away from it actually. As we drove, you could see the cloud shapes changing and the sky seemed to get smaller. Out there, the sky is not something that sits quietly in the background. The clouds are big and white and the blue is vivid. You can see storms rolling through off in the distance and the lightning shoots down in long, bold strikes.

Marfa is textured and weathered.

We visited the Chinati Foundation, which is housed on an old military base in Marfa. The buildings are really special. I have to admit that I enjoyed the architecture more than the art! It rained while we were out there and we sat under the porch of one of the buildings while it passed us. While we waited, we could see antelope off in the field walking around among the Donald Judd sculptures.

Back in town, we ate the best falafel I think I have ever had (thanks Food Shark). We wandered around, shopped and took pictures of course! At night we hung out at El Cosmico for the music festival.

Are you enticed yet? I hope that you are. My traveling companions and I started scheming about having a writing / photography workshop out there next spring. Is anyone in?? I'll leave you with that little tease and a final shot, one of my favorites of the day.

Today I set my digi camera aside and opted for my medium format FILM camera! I'm excited! The nice thing about film is that when you get it back, it's like a little present. I can't wait to see what I got!

Many thanks to the SF local who told us about "The Pirate Store" also known as 826 Valencia. I had no idea what to expect and this crazy little wonder of a place just blew me away. 826 Valencia, the store, exists to support 826 Valencia the writing project. I may not be getting it right but the way I was told was that, for some reason, the 826 Valencia writing project folks have to keep a storefront (or get some benefit from a storefront) so they came up with the pirate supply store. I love the fact that, although they could have some sort of regular store selling books, they came up with this, far more interesting concept. They sell a few things- some books, t-shirts, dice, flags, prints and so on but most of the store is like an art installation. There are all these drawers lining one wall with weird little trinkets in them. One drawer had clay marbles, another had nets and one even had cloth fake limbs. It's funny and interesting and the boys loved it!

To the right of the entrance, they have a little corner that looks like a movie theater but with an aquarium instead of a screen. In the center of the room they have a large vat of sand where you "dig for treasure". When you find treasure (glass beads in the boys' case) you have to barter in order to keep them. They had to either perform for the people in the store or draw in a special book. They drew in the book.

I loved the bulletin board, especially the part about taking the notes out of the bottle before posting it. By the cash register they have a big vat of lard. Sayer was totally intrigued. He asked the lady how much is was and she said for each scoop of lard he had to give them a chunk of his hair. It was hilarious to see the look on his face. He thought about it though, I have to say. I told him we couldn't take lard on the plane. That and the part about the hair convinced him to pass it up.

The shop is all about the little details. I personally loved the employee of the month illustrations- amazing!

So, if you find yourself and your little pirates in the SF area, make a stop at 826 Valencia. While you're there, buy something and support a great cause. Sayer and Finn are the proud owners of some 826 Valencia pirate t-shirts!

He loved digging around in the sand inside the ruins. I was just holding my breath hoping he didn't find something gross or cut himself. He was super excited about all the "sea glass" he was finding. He knows that I love sea glass and I didn't have the heart to tell him it was just broken beer bottles. He loved it just the same and I left with a pocket full of treasures.

Steven, taking in the awesomeness...

The tide was out and the kids enjoyed the combing the sides of the rocks for starfish, crabs and other little sea creatures. Steven took them up on top of the rocks.


some more favorites from the day. This first one is the sun peeking out from behind the fog.