Not that it's a bad idea, but consider this fair warning that Marfa is not super well-equipped to keep children consistently well-entertained. We got u, though, with some intel from local parents.
- Marfa Public Library can really do the trick, especially in gloomy weather. Games, puzzles, crafts, reading nooks, a Book Barn from which you can select souvenirs for a couple of dollars, etc. HLIC Nicki is magical.
- Moonlight Gemstones aka the Rock Shop is cool for a quick stop if your kids are feeling well-behaved (it's a tiny space and and a little chaos goes a long way.) They've got rocks - geodes, agates gathered from the Big Bend region and northern Mexico, fossil things, and more - along with sterling silver and stone-set jewelry made in house.
- Coffield Park has a playground, a basketball court, and a skate ramp. It's also next to the Marfa Activities Center building, home to the thrift store, which is a nice place for people of all ages to kill time and maybe score something interesting.
- Bordo is mostly a Friday-Monday Italian deli lunch spot, but they have really good gelato.
- Buy a Heart + Craft kit from us then go visit the Art Blocks gallery next to Cochineal; it's fun even if you don't have a crypto wallet.
- Chinati! The guided tours are several hours to all day long, so do with that what you will. The open viewings, however, last about as long as your attention will hold, and comprise Donald Judd's 15 untitled works in concrete, and 100 untitled works in mill aluminum. Chinati's Chamberlain Building is a good plan, too. It's open in the afternoons, and features artist John Chamberlain's large scale sculptures made of crushed cars.
- The Pool. Perhaps the best reason to stay at Hotel Saint George with people in the single or very low double digits. Their pool is open to those 21+ with the sole exception of hotel guests' children, has tons of lounge chairs, a hot tub, and a killer bar. Warm weather weekends can be busy all day, but it's often quite tranquil before 5 PM. Crowd pleaser spanning generations.
- Keep in mind: if you're visiting over spring break, Thanksgiving break, winter holiday break, or nearly any time of year when lots of people have enough days off to take their family to Big Bend, plan for longer-than-usual wait times at every single restaurant in town. And please be nice about it.
Photo: Claire Lindsey Harper