SPEAKER_02: 0:00

I am Alexa and together we are to each other. Right. We are a touring musical duo.

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And our music has taken us to all kinds of places all around the world and keeps us always on the go.

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We hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while running around working to all your places.

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And we hope to facilitate your busy lifestyle and feed your inner travel bug. Hi everyone, welcome to today's episode. If you have been following us, and even if you haven't, we did a series with Jennifer Broom, where she was sharing the best national parks to visit at which time of year. And so our winter episode was episode 259. And she recommended Big Ben National Park as one of her national parks.

SPEAKER_00: 0:54

But Texas and I've been back multiple times, and one of the big reasons is because of Big Bend National Park. They're interlinked with Texas. And Big Ben is the only national park with an entire mountain range within its borders. There's hot springs that are not far from that border crossing, but just an epic drive. They always say everything's bigger in Texas. Well, I mean Big Ben is massive, massive. And you know, I mean it's it's just an incredible landscape to enjoy. Big Ben, West Texas. Oh, it's it's that's one of my favorite places on earth. So I'm sharing all my favorites.

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That really got us inspired, and we we were like, we live in Texas. Why don't we go to Big Ben? We take Jennifer's inspiration and now have visited Big Bend. And this month we are going to be sharing our adventures with you in Big Ben National Park. After you listen to all of these, go back to Jennifer's episode, episode 259, because she covers some information that we didn't. We're gonna try to give you additional information and not just regurgitate what she talked about because we had totally different adventures than she did. So check out 259 with her. But then this whole month, we're gonna be talking about and unrolling our adventures in Big Ben National Park. So we are very excited to share that with you. And we kick off all of those adventures in the town of Marathon. It's a surrounding town to the Big Ben National Park. It is a must-see. And we are looking forward to you hearing our conversation with a local there who works at one of the reasons to go, the gauge. Here we go. Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Romies Podcast. Welcome to the Romies Podcast. Very happy today to share with you guys a very fun town that we got to explore when exploring Big Bend. It is a town about maybe an hour, hour and a half outside of the actual national park. We'll we'll get some close. But we got to go to Marathon, Texas. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 3:07

Have you heard of Marathon, Texas?

SPEAKER_04: 3:09

Marathon, Texas is such a cute town. Lori and I like pulled up and we thought this place is so adorable. We could live here. This is a fun place.

SPEAKER_02: 3:18

It's so bizarre.

SPEAKER_04: 3:20

Just have like this cool vibe.

SPEAKER_02: 3:21

Yeah, and it's only a sh like a little short strip.

SPEAKER_04: 3:24

You know, like I mean, really, there's a lot of small towns have just like one strip. Yeah. It's had like one strip on one side of the road.

SPEAKER_02: 3:32

But you could walk that strip in less than well, in a minute, probably less than two minutes, the entire strip.

SPEAKER_04: 3:38

So it was, it was, it's just so cute and so engaging. Engaging.

SPEAKER_02: 3:44

Ah I get it. Engage. Because that's see, you can use that now. You're probably you're well, you're welcome.

SPEAKER_04: 3:52

Because there is the gage hotel there. And y'all, it's like it's really not the gauge hotel. Like, it's like the resort, and like it's a bunch of stuff. Like, it's just really big.

SPEAKER_02: 4:07

It's pretty much the tale almost.

SPEAKER_04: 4:09

Right now, for this quick minute, we're gonna call it the gauge. And you want to go and you want to experience it, and we got to stay there. And so y'all are gonna see video and all of that on our socials of like our room and how cool that was and the whole deal. But like, y'all, this hotel spans like a block or two or three or four, and it's really it's just how it's laid out is so interesting and cool, and you have to go see it.

SPEAKER_02: 4:39

Vibe now everywhere.

SPEAKER_04: 4:42

Yes, and it just has this fun, yeah, super fun vibe. So today we're gonna talk about it, but we more excitingly get to share a topic.

SPEAKER_02: 4:52

Excitingly, I love your your adverbs are wonderful.

SPEAKER_04: 4:59

Um, but y'all, we're gonna get to introduce y'all to someone at Vugade. They and his name is Samuel, and we have Samuel on today, um with us today. So welcome to you.

SPEAKER_03: 5:11

Welcome to it, everyone.

SPEAKER_01: 5:13

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_04: 5:15

Yeah, we're super glad to have you. We had our own experience, right? We had our experience as like travelers into the town, but you actually work at the live in Marathon, and you are like a part of this whole community and structure. And so we we thought it'd be fun to just kind of like get your perspective on things. And y'all, Samuel has been there a whole year. He's gonna like be able to connect us and hook us up with lots of fun info.

SPEAKER_02: 5:44

So, so what is your official position there at the Gage Hotel?

SPEAKER_01: 5:48

Yeah, so my official position right now is uh guest services manager, and that means that I manage the hotel, all of the hotel reservations, the concierge services, I help with all of the bookings and basically anything, you know, that the guests need while they're while they're here staying with us. So it's you know, I kind of get to be a part of everything, you know, tell them where to go, what to do, them with any requests.

SPEAKER_02: 6:17

In a good way, tell them where to go and and what to do. I'm sure it's all good.

SPEAKER_01: 6:22

Yeah, just the fun, fun things to do if, you know, because a lot of people have never been out here all this way. And so, you know, they they want to know where to where do I go? What do I see? I seems like I'm in the middle of nowhere.

SPEAKER_02: 6:34

And so and they would be pretty much accurate.

SPEAKER_01: 6:39

They would be correct, they would be correct, but there is a lot to do and see out here. So I I get to share that with people and and just help them have a great experience when they come out here.

SPEAKER_04: 6:49

Oh, very yes, because marathon itself is a remote place, it's remote remote village, it's very remote. Yeah, okay. So I have been calling it the gauge until we can hop on with you. So would you call it the Gage Hotel? Would you put the word resort in there? Because y'all do have a resort in spa.

SPEAKER_02: 7:11

So what do we need to call the Gage Carlton's?

SPEAKER_01: 7:14

Yeah. So it's always been called it's always been named the Gage Hotel. It was built by Alfred Gage as the Gage Hotel, but a couple months ago we've started rebranding, and so now we are calling it more the Gage Resort and Spa. Okay, which is where I share it stuff here. Gage Resort and Spa.

SPEAKER_04: 7:36

Ah, see.

SPEAKER_01: 7:38

I still have some of the merchandise that just says Gage Hotel. So it's always been Gage Hotel, but we do offer more resort style things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 7:49

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01: 7:50

Yeah, just walking the grounds, that is pretty obvious.

SPEAKER_04: 7:53

Right, right. It's to me, it it was a little more than just a hotel. It had a whole experience. Like just the hotel itself is an experience, I think.

SPEAKER_01: 8:03

Yeah, that's really funny. Definitely.

SPEAKER_04: 8:06

So, can you tell us a little bit more about the history of the property and the current owner, I guess, JP Bryant?

SPEAKER_01: 8:12

Absolutely. So the Gage Hotel itself was built in 1927. So it's almost a hundred years old, which is which is very impressive and very cool. And it was built, like I said, by Alfred Gage. He was a businessman and a rancher, as from what I understand. And he he actually moved here from Vermont, funny enough, to pursue like a banking and ranching empire, is what we've always heard. And so I think he he primarily resided in San Antonio, and then he had a massive ranch out here in Marathon, which is another thing. The locals pronounce it as Marathon.

SPEAKER_04: 8:58

Marathon. So y'all don't listen to the first part of this episode where I said it wrong.

SPEAKER_02: 9:06

Well, you have to listen to the first part of the episode, just ignore the mispronunciation of marathon.

SPEAKER_01: 9:10

Ignore the mispronunciation. I'm still working on it myself. I still say marathon, but anyway.

SPEAKER_04: 9:16

So but if we want to be cool, it's marathon.

SPEAKER_01: 9:20

Marathon. That's the local thing. That's how you say it. So you're gonna be so cool now. Yes, and now you'll know for next time, and they'll be very impressed. So he built this hotel as kind of like a hub to do business out of when he would come to town to do business for his ranch and his, you know, kind of business. He built it always as a hotel. A lot of people believe it was built just as his house. It wasn't built as his house, he built it as a hotel in the first place, just kind of for his employees or businessmen to stay at when they would come through and work with him or for him. So that is why the original Gage Hotel was founded. And also there, you know, there's a railroad that goes through here, hundreds of thousands of ranching acres. So that's that. And then ever since then, it's just kind of expanded. Something else that is very kind of sad but interesting, is Alfred Gage himself actually passed away the year that it opened. So he didn't even get to fully enjoy that when he built it. Yeah. So it's it is it's sad, but it's you know, he built it in 1927 and then he passed away shortly after. So that's a little bit of history as well.

SPEAKER_02: 10:37

I do have to say that as soon as you pull into the town, there is a sense of history, an immediate sense of history. And it's it's a real uh mix of oh, this looks like an old western town. Uh, and then mixed with what the heck? This is like a 1940s or 20s history. This uh sort of the made me think of um oh the Great Gadsby. Uh it's this really cool mix uh when you get to the area that the Gage Hotel, uh the Gage Resort and Spa.

SPEAKER_04: 11:12

Yeah, all at the same time, it felt very modern and like current. Yeah, yeah, at the same time.

SPEAKER_02: 11:18

Yeah, it didn't feel dusty, outdated, old dead town. There's no feeling of that going on.

SPEAKER_01: 11:25

Right. Exactly. Exactly. And so yeah, it's just it's funny when you uh either when you're driving into the town, you're either coming in uh from Alpine or from Fort Stockton or Sanderson, and you know, from there you're just driving through empty ranch land or empty desert land, and then you just pull in to the town and then you're here. Yeah, you're like, oh, that came out of nowhere. So what the heck?

SPEAKER_03: 11:53

That's exactly what happened to us coming from nowhere, and here's something.

SPEAKER_02: 11:57

Yeah, yeah, here's a towel. Yeah, yeah. A jewel in the midst of all the carbon that surrounds it, a diamond.

SPEAKER_01: 12:04

Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_04: 12:06

So who owns the property now?

SPEAKER_01: 12:09

So now, like you said earlier, it's Mr. JP Bryan, and he bought the gauge in the late 70s. I believe it was 1978, and so but before that, it had sat abandoned for a long time. Uh and just had kind of fallen apart. And so he purchased it. He is out of Houston, he's a businessman, and um he purchased it in the 70s and then started restoring it gradually, and so that main building that you see, the Gage Hotel, is the original building, and there's 14 hotel rooms in there, and that's what was built in 1927. And so since the 70s, he's just been growing it and building and renovating it since then, and he still owns it to this day.

SPEAKER_02: 12:59

Okay. How many how many additional rooms are there now?

SPEAKER_01: 13:01

A total of rooms. In total, we've got 48 units, 48 uh places you can stay, and that's including the historic hotel and then the Los Protalis courtyard is a very popular place for people to stay. We've got rooms with king beds and fireplaces out there. And then if you need a little bit larger, we have rooms that have two double-sized beds in them, as well as a c an owner suite, and then uh another suite that has a porch. Very serene area out there. There's a fountain, there's yeah, it's a beautiful courtyard. Big time.

SPEAKER_04: 13:39

And it's not a small one.

SPEAKER_01: 13:41

Yes, it's there's 20 rooms out there, and then we have the Captain Shepherd house where you guys stayed.

unknown: 13:47

Yay!

SPEAKER_01: 13:48

And that was so cool. It is so cool, and that house is the original the the founder of Marathon. That was his home. And that was Captain Captain Shepherd, and I believe it was built in 1886, something somet close to that. And he built his home when he founded this town, and it reminded that the town reminded him of Marathon, Greece, because of the mountain structures, which is why it's called Marathon, after Marathon, Greece.

SPEAKER_02: 14:21

Which it doesn't explain why we really pronounce this marathon, but we're yeah, but we're just in Texas.

SPEAKER_03: 14:29

So that's it, baby.

SPEAKER_01: 14:32

Yeah, exactly. And so there's seven rooms over there where y'all stayed, and then we have about six off-property little casita, like little small houses. And so there's 48 total right now. And then by fall of 2027, we will have 24 more rooms built.

SPEAKER_03: 14:49

Wow. Wow. Where are those going?

SPEAKER_01: 14:52

Yeah, what are those going to be like those are going behind the Los Protalis courtyard? I don't know when y'all were there, if y'all saw where all the trees were being cut down. It's oh, it's kind of adjacent to the spa. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 15:04

Okay. And y'all again, this covers like blocks. Like, yeah, this isn't just like one building, it's kind of like very spread out. Yeah, but like Los Angeles is not like New York City, right? New York City's all these one area in Los Angeles.

SPEAKER_02: 15:23

And like Los Angeles, all of the grounds are beautiful. We stayed at uh the captain's house, as you said, and I walked out. We had just gotten there, put our luggage down, and we're kind of exploring a bit, and I walked out on the the balcony or the it covers the whole second floor upstairs. I walked out on that, and there was like it was like there was a feeling, a really strong emotion waiting for me there on the balcony. A good one, and I walked into it, and there was such peace. And you could you could hardly hear anything, maybe a bird singing. There was no traffic noise that I was. I mean, it's a small town, right? There was no traffic noise I was hearing, and it just felt so good. I went back in and told her, wow, uh that I just walked out of that balcony and he was ready to, okay, we can live here. Yeah, it felt amazing. I mean, it's hard to explain.

SPEAKER_01: 16:17

I think it's very impressive for being so remote. It's just a very impressive operation. And, you know, we just have so many dedicated and hardworking people that keep keep this operation going. You know, we've got beautiful grounds that you know, we have a great grounds and and gardens team. We've got the Gage Gardens, which is 27 acres. Hopefully, y'all got to walk through there.

SPEAKER_04: 16:40

Um we'll be showing y'all that on our socials as well.

SPEAKER_01: 16:44

Yeah. So we've it's just, you know, like you said, it's it stretches blocks. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 16:52

And y'all, this is in like a desert part of Texas. Like this is and you're on the like so close to the border of Mexico, and you're just kind of out in these very rugged, harsh, desert areas and like rocky, mountainous dirt-filled kind of mountainous right there, but it's not like everything is like lush and green and beautiful.

SPEAKER_03: 17:17

Green play around there.

SPEAKER_04: 17:20

But when you are at the Gage Hotel and the Gage Resort and Spa, the grounds it's an oasis. Yes, yes. And so they kind of they complement the scenery, but they also enhance it and bring more life to it than just like the surrounding area. So that's one kind of very cool thing. Um, and Rory, you talked about stepping out on the patio um out in the in the um shepherd house that we were in, but we also had our own balcony deck in our room. So we had like like that was just so fun, and it was crazy because in the morning when I opened the door and stepped out on the deck, there's this giant tree at the deck that goes with our room. And like bird after bird was like flocking, and you could hear them just moving around and shaking the leaves and like flying away because I, you know, had disturbed them and woken them up or whatever. But I mean it was like so many birds living in those trees, and you know, because they found a peaceful place as well. But uh, it was just such a such a beautiful place. Now I have a question for you, Samuel. So there were, I think it was rooms number four and number five. They had two doors. So what's the deal? Like, and they weren't together. So, like, y'all, we walk up the stairs, it's like a mansion feel, right? So you kind of like we walked up the stairs to the right was our room, and then ahead was like rooms three and four or four and five. But then the once you're at the top, you've you climb the stairs, you're on the floor. If you go to the left, there's like additional doors labeled number four. And I'm like, wait, but four's over there and four's over here. So what's the deal?

SPEAKER_01: 19:16

So the deal is there's those two rooms, number four and number five, those do not have the the bathrooms ensuite, they're not inside the room.

SPEAKER_03: 19:28

Oh they're down the hallway.

SPEAKER_01: 19:31

They're still, you know, the guest's private bathroom. You're the only one that uses it, but you do have your own key to it. And so you have to walk just a few steps down the hallway to use the restroom or shower or whatever it is. And so, yeah, number four, which has two full-size beds in it, and then number five has a king-size bed in it. And so those that's that's what those mystery doors are. Yes. Okay, awesome. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04: 19:59

The whole house it's so nice that they're private to that room.

SPEAKER_03: 20:02

Yeah, yes, yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_04: 20:04

And you can have your own private bathroom altogether, you know, because you're you're not even having to share it with your whoever you're in the room with.

SPEAKER_02: 20:11

Yeah, yeah. The whole house has such a a really cool historic feeling, but it's uh and the mansion feeling, like she said, but not in a cold way. It's very warm, lots of wood, very western in a sense. It's got this great mix of of this, what you'd think of as the West in the US, and also some of the mix of the Mexican influence that just gives it a really, really cool vibe. I'm sure there's a name for that. Uh, I'm sure your mom could tell us what it is, but whatever that mix of styles is, but really warm feelings. A little bit, yeah. With big pieces of wood and all this, yeah, yeah. It makes it just makes you want to hang out there.

SPEAKER_04: 20:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 20:51

Um, well, we'll have some pictures of that too, like she said, uh like the other things on our socials.

SPEAKER_04: 20:56

And that also makes it a very inviting, like, wedding destination or you know, events kind of space.

SPEAKER_02: 21:02

Yeah, I mean it's set up for that, right?

SPEAKER_04: 21:04

Yeah. So, and then you also have the gardens, which can also serve that. So, if you want to you you touched on the gardens, um, which, you know, we got to walk through and they were really pretty, but like you want to expand on kind of some of those features?

SPEAKER_01: 21:19

Sure, sure, yeah. So we we are very big with events here as well. That's a whole other thing that we do. So we we do host a lot of weddings here, and we have several different areas where people can decide to have their ceremony. The gardens is the most popular spot for that. There's a beautiful rose garden out there. There's ponds, fountains. It's very serene, like you guys saw. And so the gardens is a very popular wedding uh ceremony location, and then the backyard of the Captain Shepherd house where y'all stayed. That was the first um ceremony spot. So that's you know, they've got it landscaped out there, they have the lights, it's very pretty. We and then we have the courtyards by the historic hotel. So it's it's almost it's like a destination wedding still in Texas, you know, and and some people say, Well, why do you want to go all the way out there and get married? Well, it is it's you know, when you come out here, it's just like you said, a beautiful, serene location, and it's just that desert western vibe. So people love that like desert chic appeal.

SPEAKER_02: 22:35

Yes, very much, yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 22:36

And and and for me, like we had a wedding.

SPEAKER_02: 22:39

What do you do for a wedding? You invite your friends and family, those you're close to, right? And then you have it somewhere, but there's still every distraction in the world that's pulling it, everyone who's there, and like uh uh well, I got oh, I'm sorry, I gotta go, I just got this call about. But when you go to Marathon to have your wedding, wedding a destination there with with these guys, you're there, and it's so cool because, in my opinion, I think that as a family and friends, that community, that that love, and that that whole thing would be much stronger and more present because you're all there together, and there's nowhere you're gonna go to get away from it in a good way. So I think it'd be a fantastic place. It's just fantastic.

SPEAKER_01: 23:27

It's very, you know, when when people have weddings here, it it's just a very close-knit celebration. You know, it's their closest friends, our closest family who are willing to take the trip out here and spend the weekend with them. And uh it's just fun. It's and it's it's just fun.

SPEAKER_02: 23:44

So so tell me this. We've we've talked about uh all the uh the facilities that you guys have for people to stay, uh the spa. Tell us a little bit about the spa in just a second. And we've talked about uh the place we stayed, how much we love that, and that the place has a wonderful energy to it, the whole town. Uh so two things. Tell me about the spa, and then because the wedding guests, I think, as a destination thing, and any guest would love that. But then I want to find out about what do they do for food because we've talked about how small of a town it is, and well, is there you know, is there anywhere to eat? Well, we stayed there. We know they're wonderful, really cool, fun places to eat, and even a uh grocery store, uh sort of a general store, if you will. But okay, tell us a little bit about the spa, and then what are their options if people do go there for food and stuff?

SPEAKER_01: 24:32

This spa, the spa is amazing. So it's not very old. It's the spa, I would say, is less than 10 years old, so it's a newer addition to our facilities, and they just do great, great work over there. They've got massages, facials, I think they do waxing services, they do hand and foot soak renewals, they've got several aestheticians, very good massage therapists. There's an outdoor hydrotherapy pool, which is like a large hot tub for soaking. There's a steam room, there's a fitness center, which is attached to the spa, and in there there's all the equipment. And then there's an infrared hot summer.

SPEAKER_04: 25:12

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_01: 25:13

Awesome.

SPEAKER_04: 25:14

And sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, but I wanted to just point out that the fitness center is part of your stay. Just like if you were gonna stay at the Holiday Inn and go to their little fitness center, yes, y'all, you know, y'all have a real one, like a really nice one that is just part of your room and it's part of what your I can't believe you said the name of an of a rival hotel.

SPEAKER_02: 25:37

Well, of course, not America. There are no rival hotels.

SPEAKER_04: 25:39

No, they're not even I wouldn't call them a rival at all.

SPEAKER_03: 25:43

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01: 25:45

Yes. So if, you know, when you stay with us, you do have access to that fitness center. People like to go in there and just have a little workout, use the infrared hot sauna, book a spa appointment. It's just a very relaxing experience over there. They do the spa is very impressive. You know, it's one of the premier destination spas in West Texas. So it's, you know, and the for the fact that it's out here in Marathon is very, very impressive.

SPEAKER_02: 26:17

Yeah, yeah. So, okay, uh, I love buffalo. People love, you know, they go places just to see buffalo. I remember being in the Badlands surrounded by buffalo. I didn't see any buffalo there, but coming to mind, there's something about a white buffalo. Uh you kind of, what's the deal with the white buffalo?

SPEAKER_01: 26:35

Yes, something, yes, yeah. So we um the white buffalo bar is our is our bar. It's our it's in the back of our restaurant, and it is a very well-known bar in Texas, the White Buffalo Bar. They the atmosphere in there is just unlike any anything else. It's there's a large white buffalo head on on the wall, which just gives it its name, White Buffalo Bar. And they make a very good prickly pear margarita. That's what we're known for, is prickly pear margarita. And in West Texas, why not? So right.

SPEAKER_04: 27:12

Yeah, as you will be watching on our socials as we kind of talk about Big Ben and the area, you're going to see a lot of prickly pear. And uh it's very, very common out there. So if you don't have a context yet for what he's talking about, we sure will. There's prickly pear everywhere. And we learned about the purple prickly pear plants out in the desert. I know. Okay, anyway, back to your bar.

SPEAKER_01: 27:42

Yes. So the bar, the yes, prickly pear. It's like, you know, like the prickly pear cactus. So that's the context there. But very good, very, very popular. People, people love that. And it's just a great, great vibe. It's not a it's not a large building by any means. It's a smaller, smaller area, but it's people love there. People love it. They come here just to hang out at the bar. So that's that's the white buffalo bar. And and you know, there's an interesting story of people ask us, where did this white buffalo come from? Is this from here? Well, where is this from? And so the story with the white buffalo from the bar is our owner, Mr. JP Bryan, he's very involved in in history. He owns a museum in Galveston. He he loves he loves Texas history, history in general. And he was visiting a museum uh years ago, and he was in there and he he wanted to purchase this white buffalo head, is the story. He wanted to purchase this white buffalo head to to put somewhere. He just loved it. And the owner said, I will not sell you this white buffalo head. I you you cannot, it's not for sale. And so instead, Mr. Brian just bought the entire museum so he could just have the white buffalo. Oh, it is for sale. So everything's negotiable, apparently. But that's the that's the story, and that's where we gather it from.

SPEAKER_02: 29:13

That's pretty great. Okay, so there's the white buffalo bar, you gotta check that out. Really cool place. But there are several food options.

SPEAKER_04: 29:22

For example, we attach to that is the 12-gauge restaurant.

SPEAKER_02: 29:25

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 29:27

Tell us about the food there. A little bit like what's the approach to the chef.

SPEAKER_01: 29:33

Yeah, so the 12-gauge restaurant is our more upscale restaurant. It's like a contemporary American cuisine um with a West Texas kind of flair, West Texas chic flair. Which it should have. It should, yes. It's very i it's nice. I I like it. It's very West Texas and they serve great food. They'll do, you know, steak, chicken fried steak, but then they also do some. Great fish, bunch of different options, and it's very, it's very good.

SPEAKER_02: 30:05

Yeah, unless less you think lest you think, well, they're landlocked. Well, what's the fish thing? Let me remind you that Texas is on the Gulf of America, so they are not landlocked. They can get fresh seafood anytime they want.

SPEAKER_01: 30:21

Exactly. Yes, and we've yes, and we've got great chefs here that that do that prepare that really well. So yeah, the 12-gauge restaurant, people also people come here just to eat at our restaurant. You know, they come here for the restaurant and the bar. And you know, that's just that's just a large part of the experience.

SPEAKER_02: 30:40

Yeah, having a restaurant of that caliber in the middle of nowhere, it's I mean, it's shocking, really. Uh what we uh we ate there, it was wonderful, but we the first night ate at Ghost Fire Pizza. Ghostfire Pizza.

SPEAKER_01: 30:56

Yes, Ghost Fire Pizza. So that's that's our newest addition to our food and beverage offerings. And that for context for listeners, is is just down the street past the spots attached to a local distillery, Desert Ghost Distillery. And it is a brick oven pizza. So it's like that thin crust pizza. They make it there right in front of you. And it is just it's amazing. My favorite is the pesto Diablo, it's incredible. Nice got that pesto and hot honey on it. Chef's kiss. It's so good.

SPEAKER_02: 31:34

That's what I had, man. That's what I had. That's a recommendation. I was like, uh, honey on a pizza. Okay, I'll try it.

SPEAKER_04: 31:41

And we we actually have an excerpt from some guys there. So we're gonna hop to that real quick and let y'all hear a little bit about our experience in Ghostfire. Okay, so we'll insert there. Um and he talked about the um I didn't get a good recording of the sourdough part. So I might just mention that. And then we can go into um we didn't do the brick wall, but we did the six. Well, we can talk about it real quick. Yeah. So what is it? Oh hold on. So um yeah, it was really fun to talk to the chef who had been in Naples, Italy. Which, y'all, if you ever heard Roy talk about pizza, he goes on and on about his experience in Naples and all of that.

SPEAKER_02: 32:34

As a matter of fact, their oven says Napoli, so it's an oven, a brick oven from Naples, Italy.

SPEAKER_04: 32:39

But he learned about sourdough crusts, and so the pizza that they make there is a sourdough, so that's really, really fun. So, um, but tell us about the brick vault, brewery and barbecue. We actually didn't have time to go there.

SPEAKER_01: 32:56

Yes, the brick vault, barbecue and brewery, it's fantastic barbecue, and like you said, they they brew their own beer there as well. It's open on the weekends. So that's something that is interesting out here is you know, most of our restaurants, if you if you want to get the best experience about eating at all of our different restaurants, the weekends is when everything is open. So the brick vault is open Thursday through Sunday. They do great barbecue. On Thursdays, they'll do like a smash burger special just to kind of switch it up. But they do brisket, turkey. Turkey is amazing as well, and it's just really good. And you know, they they just they work hard.

SPEAKER_04: 33:35

That's very Texas, you know, y'all, because Texas is really the longer Rory and I are living in Texas, we're learning, you know, people are all about the barbecue.

SPEAKER_02: 33:44

Barbecue. We travel to other countries and they talk about the vegan.

SPEAKER_04: 33:50

You know, this trip, I think Rory won the KJ versus vegan.

SPEAKER_02: 33:55

As I always do.

SPEAKER_04: 34:00

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 34:01

When's the last time you walked by a barbecue pit and said, Oh, it smells like they're baking, like they're grilling broccoli?

SPEAKER_04: 34:07

Grilled broccoli is yum. Grilled asparagus is yum.

SPEAKER_02: 34:11

You walk by a barbecue pit or a restaurant and you smell the meat.

SPEAKER_04: 34:14

Whatever. Okay, so we also now we also got some vegetarian breakfast. I had okay, y'all, the best breakfast potatoes I've ever had were at V6 Coffee.

SPEAKER_02: 34:28

Yeah, we gotta brag on this place. Man, it's a big but that's another thing. You're in a tiny town. You've got this upscale restaurant, you've got your own brewery and barbecue, you've got a pizza place, right? You've got the the uh bar, the white buffalo bar, and you've got a huge, it's big coffee shop right next door is a roastery.

SPEAKER_04: 34:49

Yeah, and it's not just coffee, like they serve food.

SPEAKER_02: 34:53

Yeah, I had their breakfast, two eggs, uh sausage, see, he's at the breakfast potatoes. I was not breakfast, breakfast potatoes, coffee. The breakfast potatoes were amazing. The whole meal, y'all. Like the two ladies, okay, the show. Yeah, we we'd just finished ordering, and one of the ladies came out of the kitchen and she said, Hey, and I was like, Hey, and she's being so nice. And I walked over to talk to her because she was being so nice, and she gave me a hug and she said, Um, you're so-and-so, and I was like, Nope, I'm Rory. And she said, Oh, you look just like so-and-so. And I was like, Yep, nope, not me. The other lady came out, I said, Well, I'm giving you a hug too. So I take her. It was great. That's one thing that you'll find about marathon is the the sense of community. It is very real there. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, really cool. So, all right, use it's coffee.

SPEAKER_04: 35:48

Another thing that you can get at V6, you can buy things for a takeaway lunch so that you can take it with you and go on your adventure.

SPEAKER_02: 35:56

So you can take it away.

SPEAKER_04: 35:59

Because Marathon is a nice place to stay with you. Where what is what is marathon is a nice place to stay when you're gonna go to the park. So if you have more to say about food, Samuel, go for it. And or this can be your segue into the park. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 36:17

So VC, like you know, V6 is amazing. I love the V6 coffee bar. They they, like you said, they do a great breakfast. I've heard that from a lot of people that they the breakfast potatoes are amazing. And they are. I agree. And so, like, yeah, too, exactly. What you were saying is, you know, uh, we are a great, you know, base camp to go into Big Band National Park.

SPEAKER_04: 36:42

Which you want to go to, just saying.

SPEAKER_01: 36:43

Yeah. If you're come all the way out here, you have gotta check it out. It's just it's just incredible. And a lot of people are here to see the park. And so there's not a lot of, you know, you can't, there's not any, there's not very many food options in the park. And so you you really need to take something with you. And so what the V6 coffee shop will do is you can order a box lunch and take it with you. So you can order it the day before or early in the morning, and then they can get it to you a little bit after that. And it's usually like a sandwich and chips or something like that, just like a little picnic lunch you can take with you on your hike or on your you know your drive through the park. And it's just very handy to do that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 37:29

Now, for our British listeners, he means a sandwich and crisps. Just saying.

SPEAKER_01: 37:35

Oh yes. And we, you know, you mentioned your British listeners. We we have people come here from all over the world, from from Britain, from uh from everywhere. We we really do.

SPEAKER_02: 37:50

I'll bet. I'll bet.

SPEAKER_04: 37:52

They should come. It's worth the trip.

SPEAKER_02: 37:53

So I'm gonna jump on what he said as far as it being a place to stay, coming in and in and out of the park. It's it's really awesome. But I say you need to spend a day there, at least a day there. In Marathon. In Marathon. In Marathon. It's just I mean, you won't regret it. It just to sit in the vibe and the community of the place is really cool. And you can see the garden, uh, you can check out the other the other parts of their properties, spend a day at the spa. It's just a really cool place to be.

SPEAKER_04: 38:24

One of the things too I wanted to point out, you were talking Rory was talking about how peaceful it is. Samuel was pointing out like the weddings and the events that you can have. And like, if you just need a really like what you're maybe in a season in your life and you just need to get away.

SPEAKER_03: 38:41

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04: 38:42

You need some just quiet you time, maybe to plan your your next year, or you know, just you need to grieve because you've gone through a crazy season and whatever it is, like this is the place to go.

SPEAKER_03: 38:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 38:59

To just have some you time and meet you and God time, breathing time, you know, because it's so peaceful, and so it can be that for you too.

SPEAKER_03: 39:12

So it can be it can be just your quiet getaway, it can be your super fun vacation time, yeah, adventure, it can be your entrance to the park and all of those adventures and and explorations.

SPEAKER_04: 39:24

Like it it I love that it serves all of those purposes. So whatever season you're in, or whatever need that you might have in your life right now for your travel needs, this is a place to check out and consider and go.

SPEAKER_02: 39:38

Marathon and the gauge resort and spa.

SPEAKER_01: 39:42

Yes, a hundred percent. And you know, you're saying, you know, you and your in God time. I think this is one of the best places to see God's creation is out here in the mountains. I think it's great.

SPEAKER_02: 39:52

Yeah, and it blows your mind totally unexpected. If you're not, if you've never been down there and you're from Texas, what it blows your mind. This is Texas, holy cow! And if you're from Colorado, you think, yeah, we got all the mountains or Utah or Idaho. No, you don't have all the mountains. It's really cool.

SPEAKER_01: 40:13

Yeah. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_04: 40:16

And Samuel, just confirm real quick. Remind me, was I right about the the length of the drive from Marathon into like the entrance to the park?

SPEAKER_01: 40:27

Yes, I would say so. Yeah, I think an hour is that so we I say it's a 45-minute drive just to the entrance, and then it's another, you know, another 20 to 30 minutes to the main visitor center, which is Panther Junction. And so an hour, hour and 15 just to that center point visitor center. And that's about as closest as you can get as like a nice place to stay. Absolutely. Right.

SPEAKER_04: 40:55

Because yeah, yeah, I mean, I guess you can camp in the park if you like you if you're doing that, but like for a hotel or for a lodging option, yeah. This Big Ben Park is so giantly huge that you you're not like an hour is close. And and that's that's reasonable. And you know, I would you would need to.

SPEAKER_02: 41:22

I would I would I would frame it like this. You might hear people say, Yeah, it's the only place to stay. So, you know, that's where we stay. Those same words. Yeah, it is the only place to stay. That's why you go there because it is the place you want to go. It's what Samuel said as far as nice accommodations and restaurants and and the bar and the hanging out, the cool community, that's where you want to be.

SPEAKER_01: 41:47

Yes, yeah, and people, you know, people I love, I tell people that all the time, you know, you really need multiple days here. If you want to go into the park, you know, go into the park a day, hang out at the gauge a day, you know, then see the surrounding towns a day, something like that. I you know, it's and a lot of people, like you said, they can camp in the park. You can there's campsites, plenty of campsites, a few lodging options in the park, but you know, it's not the same as where we're at. And so, you know, a lot of people will do that too. They'll go, they'll stay here a night, they'll go into the park, and then they'll stay with us on the way back, you know, to rejuvenate.

SPEAKER_02: 42:28

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_04: 42:32

You mentioned that some of the surrounding towns. We are going to be like in our series this month, as we're talking about Bake Bend, we are going to share about Terlingua, which is another kind of uh town that borders the park. Yeah, um and it's totally different um experience and vibe than you're gonna find in Marathon. So it's um you have some really cool options, but I think marathon needs to be like a must-do when you come down.

SPEAKER_01: 43:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 43:04

That's our two cents for you.

SPEAKER_01: 43:06

I agree. I agree. Yeah, cool.

SPEAKER_02: 43:10

Man, well, thank you for being with us, Sandra. Is there anything anything you want to add before we go?

SPEAKER_01: 43:15

Well, I mean, I just think it, you know, a lot of people have lived in Texas their entire some people have lived in Texas their entire lives, and they've never never been out this far west. And you know, that's it's called far west Texas. And so I just would encourage anyone who has lived in Texas who has never been this far out to come and just see it because it's just incredible. You you know, it's it's hard to believe we are in Texas sometimes, but we are, and it's it's great. Yeah, it's very yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 43:43

What if and if we're flying in, is get is El Paso going to be kind of the closest um airport for folks, Stockton or where would they fly into if they're coming from other states or countries?

SPEAKER_01: 43:58

So actually the closest commercial airport is Midland, the Midland Odessa.

SPEAKER_04: 44:02

Okay, Midland Odessa.

SPEAKER_01: 44:04

And that's about a two and a half hour drive from us. Okay, and then El Paso. Um, and then of course, if you're if you can fly private, if you've got your own plane, there's a private airport in I think Fort Stockton and also in Alpine, which is Alpine's only 30 minutes.

SPEAKER_02: 44:19

Yeah, yeah, that's right. I would say this uh Texans have a very strong sense of pride. Growing up next door in Louisiana, we always knew it. My dad's from Texas, we always felt it. But what struck me, honestly, I had these thoughts going through my head after visiting down there, the level of pride, like it just went up. I mean, seriously, because if you've never been there, you need to go and it will absolutely blow your mind. Really, really beautiful, wonderful, and you'll think, wow, yeah, this is this is my taxes. Exactly, yes, it does get more taxes than this.

SPEAKER_04: 44:53

Love it.

SPEAKER_01: 44:54

Yep. Hey, how do people find you guys? People can find us on we're on Instagram at GageResort. We've got our website, which is still, I believe, gagehotel.com. So, gagehotel.com. We're on all the socials, we're not on any third-party booking platforms. You can book your stay directly through our website or giving us a call.

SPEAKER_04: 45:18

Okay, great. Well, we will put that information in our show notes so you guys can reference that. Just call them direct and go from there. Love it.

SPEAKER_02: 45:26

Yeah. Man, thanks for joining us, Daniel. Spa, y'all gotta check it out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 45:32

Thank y'all so much for having me this episode.

SPEAKER_04: 45:37

Thank y'all so much for joining us on this episode. We look forward to sharing more adventures with you surrounding our adventures in the national park. We hope we've inspired you this episode. Please subscribe to Ray and Share a podcast. And please like and follow us on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. And our main hub is our website at www.roomies.com.com. We'll be there until next time. Thanks for listening.