Terlingua, Texas

It seemed a few of you were curious about the piano in Monday’s post and I couldn’t resist telling more of the story. Five years ago, we were living in the very bottom of Texas and decided to go to Big Bend for our honeymoon. Along the way we found the neatest little Ghost town, Terlingua.

That piano was right inside the door of the building, The Perry Mansion, pictured above. We were so intrigued by the building and really wanted to explore it but we were good and stayed out (and safe). I wonder if that building is still there?

Here you can see that building in the background of another dying building. What’s up with that rock line?

I thought this little Bronco truck was so cute I wanted to take it home. But only took a photo.

Oh heck, just enjoy this pictures of the area. Maybe I’ll make it back there someday but if you go before me, take lots of photos and share them, please.

The word Terlingua means three languages.

(yes, that’s my finger, see Joy, I can take bad ones.)

Prior to 1967, Terlingua, Texas, was an abandoned mercury-mining town near the Mexican border, about as far from anything else as it could get. But that year, humorist H. Allen Smith published an article in the New York Times titled, "Nobody Knows More About Chili Than I Do," which included his recipe for chili with beans. A response came back from Wick Fowler, a Dallas newspaperman whose hobby was cooking chili, that if you knew beans about chili, you knew chili didn't have beans.

A showdown between the two men was arranged in remote Terlingua - the first chili cookoff ever - and the winner was to be crowned the world chili champion. Though the contest ended in a tie, the event was a wild success, and Terlingua was deemed the "Chili Capitol of the World." Annual cookoffs have been held there ever since.

Quoted from the Tabasco website.

Isn’t this area great? I love all of the southwest and have been gone far too long! Then combine the southwest with cemetery and oh my! I spent way too much time there, as you could probably tell by the photos.  The cemetery photos are actually better in the bigger size but you'd have to go to flickr to see that.  There are a lot of wooden crosses there.

While we were there we found a little shop (I think that’s it in the photo but am not really positive) and bought an autographed photo book of the town, THE TERLINGUA AREA PEOPLE AND NATURE. And not too far away is a very nice golf course, believe it or not. We were told by the locals that famous people fly in often to play the course. Can you imagine a green in that desolate, desert area? Can you tell I love, love, love the area?