Wild West Texas Saturday, July 11, 2009

El Paso .. "where is that exactly?" is the usual question we get .. "On the western most tip of Texas", "on the Rio Grande river", "across from Cuidad Juarez".

That's Big Bend Country, as in the big bend of the Rio Grande river.

We had the pleasure of visiting this Spring for 2 days. We forgot our cameras ... so we have to rely on the web and people we met for photos. We packed in a ton of great site seeing and eating, as you'll see below.

Magoffin Home State Historical Park, located in one of the neighborhoods that eventually formed downtown El Paso ... Magoffinsville was an early Anglo-American settlement in present-day El Paso. Residents witnessed American expansion, West Texas settlement, travel on the Santa Fe Trail, Civil War turmoil and U.S-Mexico relations.

El Paso Downtown Walking Tour, turn of the 20th Century famous architectures' work on every corner. Here's a 1 minute video summary from Alli Cat Productions.

Franklin Mountains (image) -- For years, meteorologists and lay-people alike, have marveled at and pondered the intriguing wind patterns that are generated by the Franklin Mountains and the effects that these winds have on the city of El Paso. Indeed, it wasn't until the relocation of the El Paso National Weather Service (NWS) office from the El Paso International Airport (east of the Franklins) to its current location in Santa Teresa, New Mexico (west of the Franklins) in the mid 1990's that an even greater appreciation for these winds was attained. Beginning with the relocation, it was often observed that, particularly between October and May, strong and potentially damaging winds could occur on the east side of the range with little wind on the west side during the same time. Also, temperature differences of upwards of 20 degrees were noted, at times, between both sides of the mountains in conjunction with this phenomenon. (ref)

El Paso Museum of Archeology -- a museum of prehistoric proportion ... great exhibits, complete with life size dioramas on native peoples of the area

Wyler Aerial Tramway - built to transport communication tower repairmen to the top of the mountain. We gilded to the top of Ranger Peak in the Franklin Mountains State Park in an airborne Swiss gondola. From a mile-high seat in the sky, we could see Mexico, New Mexico and the City of El Paso as the Texas State Park Guild Wyler Tramway web site suggests.

Hueco Tanks, see our detailed posting
Restaurants, see our detailed posting

To Do List ... Las Cruces and everything else in the State of New Mexico; Ciudad Juarez; many more museums in downtown El Paso; Guadalupe Mountains; Big Bend Nat'l Park; Monahans Sandhills SP -- Camel Treks; TPWD Calendar here

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A Different Kind of Historical Evidence

Imagine all you had to go on to find the story of your ancestors was some rock paintings out in a remote area ....

We had the luck in May to visit a tightly controlled state park in West Texas, Hueco Tanks, just 32 miles Northeast of El Paso, Texas. This spot in the desert was known to be a stop along the Butterfield Stage Coach Route and is full of pictographs (rock paintings). (Photo at left from Wikipedia: Hueco Tanks)

From the Texas State Park Guide for Hueco Tanks State Historic Park and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) for Hueco Tanks: This site is named for the natural rock basins in its granite outcroppings that capture rainwater, a precious resource in the Chihuahuan Desert environment. For millennia, people seeking life-giving water and the diverse plants and animals that could be found here left curious and beautiful paintings on the rocks. Today this ancient site preserves more than 2,000 pictographs that are a wonder to behold. Because of the sensitive nature of the site, visitation is limited and reservations were required to hike there.

It was a high of 100 degrees, so we attempted the few hour guided tour that started early in the morning. The guide said we were lucky to come in May; apparently in summer, its possible to be covered with mosquitoes due to the Monsoon season (uck!).

Thank you to our hiking companion Judi for the great photos!

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