The Comfortable and Charming Historic Gage Hotel in Marathon, Texas

After roughing it in Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas, I especially enjoyed the comfortable and charming Gage Hotel in tiny Marathon.

In 1927, businessman Alfred Gage built the elegant adobe hotel. But he died the same year, and the hotel fell into disrepair. In the late 1970s, Houston couple J.P. and Mary Jon B. restored it to its original glory.

I stayed in the Los Portales addition, where rooms boast impressive doors made of aged mesquite salvaged from Mexico. I enjoyed relaxing in front of a roaring fire in my room's fireplace.

Marathon is on U.S. Highway 90, just west of where it crosses U.S. Highway 385 in West Texas and 58 miles south of Fort Stockton on I-10. Nightly room rates at the Gage Hotel (101 Highway 90 W.) range from $69 (without private bathroom) to $189 for a room with private bath, a king bed, fireplace and sitting area.

For more information, call 1-432-386-4205.