More about Alpine Texas

Alpine is turning out to really be a great little community. It has:
1 small municipal airport
1 award winning library (with a very good second hand bookstore)
1 great new and second hand bookstore
8 art galleries
6 banks
7 churches (active churches, not necessarily beautiful old church buildings)
1 coffee shop
1 movie theater
1 guitar store
1 record store (yes, an actual record and Cd store!)
1 hardware store
2 grocery stores
1 clinic
11 hotels and motels
1 very active human society
3 thrift stores
9 restaurants (counting mac donald and Sonic Drive In)
2 vets
and 1 taxi company (I have never seen the actual car/cars)

...and this is for a population of about six thousands. I think it is amazing.

Along the train tracks you also have the warehouse of the Big Bend Wool and Mohair Company (no outlet though).

And as I was saying there is also a train station for passenger trains. Here is the train station with passengers waiting.

 ..and here is the train blocking the road.

Since I couldn't cross the tracks to the main part of downtown I had lunch at this small eatery, and it was worth it. The food was delicious and I ended up talking with a young couple co-founders of a furniture design business in town. They were really neat young people and super friendly.

The downtown has several interesting older buildings.

Here is the record store.

The coffee shop in an old gas station I think.

A very cool old building right next to where I had lunch. Front:

 ...and back.

 The movie theater.

and the very nice bookstore.

 As you cans see I am spending some time in Alpine. I am just over 100 miles from Big Bend, but somehow I am stopping here anyway.