‘Round the Big Bend: A Study Tour of the Towns around Big Bend National Park, Single Occupancy Full Payment

May 5-9, 2027

$4,100 per person / double occupancy

$4,850 per person / single occupancy

Next May, the Seminar will travel to one of Texas’s most remote and compelling regions. With our guides, Stephen Fox and Joe Holley, we will explore the towns and extraordinary landscapes surrounding Big Bend National Park, including Marfa, Marathon, Fort Davis, Alpine, and Terlingua. Even if you’ve visited this area before, you’ll want to join us for a fresh look at this region.

Will the skies still be as dark as ever? Will a border wall have altered the landscape? What will become of Marfa’s ever-evolving art scene? Who is investing in—and reshaping—the region? These are questions we will consider as we encounter the Big Bend not only as a place of remarkable history and natural beauty, but as a landscape undergoing change.

The tour will originate in Midland, which in itself, is rich in history and architecture. We will then travel by motorcoach and enjoy three nights at the Hotel Saint George in Marfa, and a final night at the Gage Hotel in Marathon.

Guides:

Stephen Fox is an architectural historian and a lecturer at the Rice University School of Architecture. He is also a lecturer at the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture at the University of Houston and a fellow of the Anchorage Foundation of Texas. Fox’s work is focused on architecture of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, especially that of Houston and Texas. In his scholarship, he examines the ways that architecture engages such social constructs as class identity, cultural distinction, and regional differentiation.

Joe Holley, a longtime columnist and editorial writer for the Houston Chronicle, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2017 and 2023 and a Pulitzer Prize winner in 2022. The author of eight books that are mostly about Texas, he’s been an editorial-page editor in San Diego, Calif., a speechwriter for Gov. Ann Richards, a staff writer for The Washington Post and the Chronicle’s “Native Texan” columnist since 2013.  A Waco native, he is an alumnus of Abilene Christian University, the University of Texas at Austin and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Registration:

Begin your trip registration by completing our traveler registration form — click this link to get started. This form must be completed for every traveler in your group.

Transportation to and from Midland is not included and is the responsibility of each traveler.

Suggested flights from HOU and IAH to MSY: 

Travel Registration and Cancellation Policy:

Reservations will be made on a first come-first served basis upon receipt of a $500 deposit, the Reservation and Deposit Form, and the signed Release of Claims form. Payment in full is due on March 5, 2027. Reservations received after March 5, 2027  may be accepted if space is available and payment is made in full. Your reservation is not confirmed until you have received written confirmation from the Houston Seminar.

If payment in full for the tour is not made by AMarch 5, 2027, your reservation will be canceled, and your $500 deposit will be forfeited. Should the Houston Seminar cancel the tour for any reason, your deposit and any additional payments will be refunded in full. Should you have to cancel for any reason, you must notify the Houston Seminar in writing. For cancellations before March 5, 2027 all payments, less the $500 deposit, will be refunded. A cancellation between March 5, 2027 and April 5, 2027, will result in the forfeiture of your $500 deposit plus 50% of all other amounts paid. After April 5, 2027, cancellation will result in the forfeiture of 100% of all amounts paid. We recommend that you consider purchasing travel insurance.

Please email [email protected] or call/text (713) 666-9000 with any questions.