Things To Do In El Paso, Texas

Are you looking for things to do in El Paso, Texas? You came to the right place!

Is this a stop on your road trip like it was for us? You might want to read this post - Getting The Car Ready For A Road Trip - before you go.

We name our annual road trips. The name of our most recent trip is called "14 National Parks in 5 States". The 4th stop we made on this trip was El Paso, TX. We had already visited the two National Parks in Texas, Big Bend NP and Guadalupe Mountains NP so we didn't have a National Park to visit here this trip. This was one of the states we were just passing through on our way to the parks. We were not just going to pass through without checking out the city though.

The first thing we needed to do was find a campground. We always try to find a state park in the area we are staying in. If not, we'll find a KOA. But sometimes we can't find either. We got very lucky in El Paso. We found a beautiful state park here. I wouldn't be surprised if one day Hueco Tanks State Park was given a National Park title. But before we were able to go to our site, we were required to attend an orientation first. We learned about how delicate some of the things in this park were, especially the pictographs and we needed to understand what might be harmful to them. Cooking with charcoal for one thing could do real damage to the ancient drawings.

We were thrilled when we were finally able to go to our campsite. We were surrounded by the the most amazing views of the low mountains that are everywhere in the park. Hueco Tanks State Park is a favorite of rock climbers and we could see why it would be.

We got to the campground late the day before so that left us with only one full day to explore El Paso and we wanted to make the most of our time. We wanted to visit the city but also enjoy some time in this beautiful park so we got up early and started our day with a couple hours of hiking.

We were on a quest to find some of the pictographs we we heard so much about while watching the orientation video. We found a few of them scattered around the park. We hiked up on the rocks to get a close up view of them.

There is graffiti mixed in with the ancient pictographs and it was hard to tell what was what but it was still fun hunting for and viewing all the drawings.

After we were done hiking it was time to head out to the city. The first thing on our list of things to do was to have lunch. When I was googling places to eat L & J Cafe kept showing up as highly recommended so that was where we decided to go. Mexican food seemed like an appropriate cuisine to try out in this area and this restaurant looked like the best place to have it.

Our lunch started with a complimentary appetizer. The homemade tortilla chips were the most delicious chips I have ever tasted. The dips that came served with them were also very good but two of the three were a little too spicy hot for me. My son-in-law would love these dips!

I had a trio of Despardo Tacos and Soko had Chicken Enchiladas. We both really enjoyed our lunch choices. After eating here, we know why it made all the lists we saw and we can now recommend L & J Cafe ourselves.

                    

After lunch we headed for the zoo. The El Paso Zoo was compact and that made it easy for us to see every exhibit. There were other things we wanted to do and see, on our one day visit to El Paso, so it was the perfect size for us.

It was very hot this day so we didn't see lots of the animals as they were inside staying cool and there was no access to see them there. We did see this Rhinoceros Hornbill who scared a toddler and sent him crying into his dad's arms when it suddenly let out a very loud, ear piercing screech. 

The most interesting animal we saw at the zoo was the Przewalski's wild horse. This horse was declared extinct in the wild in 1970. Through the efforts of several groups and with the help of the El Paso Zoo and other zoo's and facilities where small groups of the horses still survived, there are now 325 of these horses living in the wild in Mongolia. Their status has been upgraded from extinct to critically endangered.

The zoo was lots of fun and then it was time to head downtown.

We started off at the Museum of History. This small museum had no admission fee. They only ask for a donation. 

I really liked the section dedicated to women's contributions to society. There was a collection of native women's clothing. The China Poblana dress with red zapatillas and Zapatista hat was my favorite.

Next on our list of things to do was the El Paso Museum of Art. This museum also asked only for a donation.

There was an interesting exhibit called The Art of Propaganda. It took us awhile to read all the posters.

Both of the museums were very nice, and we appreciated the air conditioning lol, but what we were most looking forward to doing, on our day in El Paso, was a ghost tour. We were being hosted on this tour by US Ghost Adventures. We stopped at Starbucks for a little snack after the museums, we were still full from our delicious lunch, but it was still a little too early for the tour so we took our time walking to San Jacinto Plaza where we were going to meet Julian, our tour guide.

Right outside the plaza there were a group of people enjoying a free concert. We joined them until it was time for the tour.

We stopped to take a picture in front of this cool sculpture, the meeting place for the tour, then we spotted the lantern Julian said he would be holding so that we could find him. (Can you spot him behind us?) The night started with the chilling story Julian told us about the alligators who once lived here. He told us that after a couple of alligators were abused and one was killed by human hands, they moved the gators out of here. I got goosebumps when he said the alligators now haunt this area and people have heard growling and scratching of alligator feet on the pavement around the sculpture.

A little boy haunts The Reagan, a gastropub these days, but at one time a pediatrician had his office in the basement of this building and it is thought that the little boy was one of his patients. People have heard him crying and there have been sightings of the distraught child in different locations in the building.

Another story that gave me the chills was the one about the cleaning women who was cleaning the Plaza Theater after a show. She smelled smoke and looked up into the balcony and saw a man smoking a cigarette. She yelled to him to put it out. The man then proceeded to jump from the balcony to his death. The women started screaming for help but stopped when she again smelled smoke. She looked up on the balcony and saw the man back in his seat smoking. Before she could comprehend what she was seeing he jumped off the balcony again. Needless to say, the women frantically fled the building, quit her job and never returned to the theater again.

We went to several different sights that night. As we walked to each sight, Julian kept an interesting conversation going on about the history of El Paso. 

This was our first ghost tour and we really loved it. Besides being totally entertained with the stories about the ghosts that haunt this city, we also learned about the history of El Paso. We got some extra steps into our day and saw some nooks and crannies of the city that we missed when we were doing our own self-guided tour earlier. We have to say that this tour was the highlight of our time in El Paso, TX and highly recommend looking into doing one if you are ever here. Click here for tickets and ask for Julian!

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Our Top 12 Must-See National Parks

Do you plan vacations that include visiting one of the 63 National Parks? Read this post to find out which of the parks are on the top of must-see lists.

If you are planning to camp at a National Park, read this post before you start packing - 10 Items You Should Have On Your Camping List.

We have planned for years to see as many national parks as we could once we retired.  The we not only includes Soko, but also my sister (with me in the picture above) and her husband John (JT).  We have been to three and they turned out to be our most loved vacations.  Some of the most beautiful sites we have ever seen have been in these parks.  We enjoy everything about spending the day out in nature from the hiking to stopping to appreciate a gorgeous wildflower.  But there are 59 national parks.  (Number 59 - Pinnacles National Park is not on some older lists.)  That means we have 56 parks left to visit.  Although we really would like to get to all the remaining parks, we know that might be impossible, so we had to get get this number down to something more doable.   After hours of researching, we have come up with this list of  our 12 must-see national parks.

We came up with our top 12 by finding lists of best national parks around the web and by talking to friends and family.  I went to National Geographic and Fodor's Travel Guide and found their top 10 lists.  I was sure those sites would have the very best of the parks on their lists.  Travel + Leisure's website featured an article about a couple who saw all 59 parks in 52 weeks.  That couple came up with a list of parks they felt "every traveler should be sure to see."  I used their list.  I went to a website called Ranker that polled travelers, hikers, campers and sightseers to create a most beautiful park list.  It made sense to check out their list.  After looking at all these lists and more and "interviewing" family and friends, I thought we would have a list of 10 must-see national parks but couldn't get it to less than 12. 

The Top 10 parks, according to most of the websites, are listed below in order of popularity.   We have been to three of them.  This left us with the first seven entries on our must-see list.  After talking to family and friends we had four more to add to the list.  And finally, we added the one park I  always dreamed of seeing and that is how we got our Top 12 Must-See National Parks!  

1.  Yosemite National Park - California - (1)  The majority of the sites I looked at had Yosemite at the top of their lists of best parks.  Tunnel View is the "not to be missed" sight to see here.  Once we get near this vista, we simply park our car and walk over.  From here we can see Bridalveil Fall and the granite cliffs of El Capitan and Half Dome.  

2.  Grand Canyon National Park - Arizona - This is one of the three parks we have been to.  It didn't surprise me to see the Grand Canyon on most of the lists and close to the top of those lists.  The pictures I had seen of this park didn't come close to the awesomeness of seeing the Grand Canyon in person.  It was truly breathtaking!  

3.  Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming - (2) is another very popular park.  My (very soon to be) daughter-in-law, Chrissy (right) and her friend, Sarah decided to take a Midwest trip "to do some hiking, see beautiful views, try new things and meet new people."  With this in mind, they landed up visiting two of America's best national parks.  The first was Grand Teton.  One highlight of Grand Teton for them was Inspiration Point in the picture below.  The elevation here is 7,200 feet Chrissy told me.  We will pose for a picture, when we get to this Point, to send to Chrissy, but I'm sure we will be right side up!  

4.  Acadia National Park - Maine - This is the second of the three national parks we have been to.  Every summer, for many years, we took the kids camping along with 5-7 other families.  We still talk about how our Maine trip was one of the best.  We spent almost the entire vacation hiking in Acadia.  The kids loved it.  I think my favorite day of this trip was when we bought some steamed lobsters and had a picnic in the park.  This park is gorgeous and the views are spectacular.  I was not surprised to see Acadia on so many lists.

5.  Glacier National Park - Montana - (3)  When I was compiling this list, I asked for suggestions from our friends, Penny and Bill.  They have been to more parks than anyone else we know, a total of 44 so far.   One of the big reasons they go to the parks is to get a glimpse of the wildlife.  Glacier National Park is the perfect park to go for that reason as they have a diverse collection of animals ranging from mountain goats to grizzly bears.  Penny and Bill told us that they visited the park in the fall when the wildlife is most active.   They saw not only the mountain goats and grizzly bears, but also moose, wolf and elk.  I hope we are that lucky when we visit although I may just be as happy not to bump into a grizzly!   

6.  Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado - (4)  I have wanted to visit this park ever since I first heard the song Rocky Mountain High by John Denver.  (Yes, I am that old!)  He made it sound heavenly!  My daughter, Lisa, has been there and she tells me the thing I have to do there is to take a ride on the 48 mile Trail Ridge Road.   The highest elevation on this road is over 12,000 feet!  On the way up there, we can enjoy thrilling views, wildlife sightings and spectacular alpine wildflower exhibitions.

7.  Olympic National Park - Washington - (5)  The attractiveness of this park is it's diversity.  In it's million acres, you can find glacier-capped mountains, rain forests and over 70 miles of coastline.  I would love to spend the day here strolling the shores of Lake Crescent and walking along Rialto Beach watching the waves crashing onto offshore islands and, if we are lucky, spotting an eagle flying overhead. 

8.  Yellowstone National Park - Wyoming, Montana, Idaho - (6)  This was the second park Chrissy and Sarah visited on their Midwest adventure.  Chrissy, shared her pictures of one of the best known parks in America with the best known geyser anywhere, Old Faithful.   They found another geyser on one of their hikes through Yellowstone, picture 2.  Chrissy attached a warning here:  "Caution: Do not touch - extremely hot.  Do not breathe in - extremely smelly."  To get to the beautiful waterfall behind Chrissy, in her third picture, they hiked Uncle Tom's Trail which she told me included 300 stairs down to the falls.  "But also meant 300 stairs back up!"

9.  Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Tennessee, North Carolina - We first visited this park as part of a family road trip that brought us from our home in New York, through Pennsylvania and West Virginia, to Indiana to have lunch before we made our way to Dayton, Ohio for a bowling tournament that me and daughter, Lisa were competing in.  From there we were meeting our friends in South Carolina for our annual camping trip.  So we drove from Ohio to Kentucky and into Tennessee then through the Great Smoky Mountains to North Carolina and into South Carolina.  This road trip currently holds the record as being our longest.  Our second visit to this picturesque park was with my sister Sandie and her husband, JT.  We spent a long weekend hiking a couple of the many trails throughout the park.  You can read more about the fun we had on that trip here.

10.  Zion National Park - Utah - (7)  The pictures I have seen of Zion National Park and especially the ones of the Emerald Pools makes me so excited about planning a visit here.  There are lots of hiking trails at the Emerald Pools, ranging from easy to strenuous, to choose from and they all lead to beautiful waterfalls.  Also, the massive sandstone cliffs reaching up to sky will definitely be an amazing sight to see I'm sure.

The next four parks were highly recommended by family and friends which is the reason why they made our list.  I did see them listed on the lists of some of the websites but not as often as the ten above.   

Bryce Canyon National Park - Utah - (8) - My son, Joe and daughter-in-law Nicole recommended we visit their favorite national park of the ten they have been to.  They visited the park in early March so couldn't hike the snow covered trails but enjoyed how the snow added to gorgeousness of the views.  There were many scenic outlooks for them to pull into as they drove around the park.   We will make sure to be on the lookout for Thor's Hammer (picture 1) and will also make sure we drive to the south end of the road to Rainbow Point as the view there was amazing according to Joe and Nicole.  I will definitely be looking for Natural Bridge, picture 3.  Now that's something you don't see everyday!

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks - California - (9) - are jointly listed by the National Park Service because they actually are connected and made our list because it is the favorite of our friends, Penny and Bill.  If Sequoia & Kings Canyon are their favorite of the 44 parks they have visited then we can't miss this one.  Bill loved how the giant sequoias made Penny look like "she was about the size of a mosquito" next to them.  Another highlight in these parks for them were the waterfalls.  We were told we can't miss Roaring River Falls, Mist Falls and Grizzly Falls in Kings Canyon.  Another plus that put these parks on the top of their list was that there are about 1/10th the amount of sightseers here than what some of the other parks have.  

Arches National Park - Utah - (10) and Canyonlands are also favorites of Penny and Bill and made our list once they told us the two parks are only 26 miles apart.  Arches is appropriately named as there are 2,000 natural sandstone arches throughout the park.  One we will be on the lookout for is the world famous (at least that's what I read but I have never heard of it) Delicate Arch.  Also, there is a rock formation named Balanced Rock which is a massive rock resting on a narrow pillar.  It looks amazing in the picture I saw.  I am really looking forward to seeing it one day.

Canyonlands National Park - Utah - (11) is a park in the heart of southeast Utah's high desert.  Here we will enjoy views of colorful canyons from the many overlooks we can stop at as we tour the park in our car on a paved road.  We also have our choice of hiking trails of varying length to choose from to explore more of the park.

And, last but not least...  

Redwood National Park - California - (12) - I can't believe that this park wasn't on any list I found.  It made our list because every June, for 16 years, I sang the song, This Land Is Your Land along with other teachers and about 60 four and five year olds on graduation day.  As I clapped and sang "from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters" along with the group I would get a beautiful vision of gorgeous, giant trees and imagined that I would see them one day.   Hopefully that one day will be here very soon!

That's our National Park bucket list.  Which one will end up being our favorite?  We would love to hear about yours!

Good To Know:  Before you visit the national parks on your list, go here to get an annual pass.   If you are a senior, 62 and over, you can buy a lifetime pass for $80.00 like we did.  And if you are military, or their dependents, you can go here to find out how to get into the parks for free.

UPDATE: I first posted this in 2018 when we were just starting to get serious about reaching our retirement goal. I wanted to make sure we saw the most popular parks if not all of them. As of now (September 2025), we have been to 48 parks including all of the parks mentioned in this post! 

Read these posts if your plans include visiting any of these parks:

  

Things To Do In And Around Rocky Mountain National Park

                                                     

Great Sand Dunes National Park

This post was featured:

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Crazy Little Lovebirds

Life Tales Books

The Cottage Market

A Pinch of Joy

Which parks have you visited? Do you have a favorite? Let us know in comments.

Hubbard Glacier, Day 7 Of Our Alaskan Cruise

Is the Hubbard Glacier a part of your Alaskan cruise itinerary? Learn more about it here before you go.

And read this post - 10 Father's Day Gift Ideas For The Traveling Dad - if you are taking this cruise with your dad and want to surprise him with a gift.

Hubbard Glacier is an enormous glacier and was part of our Alaskan cruise itinerary on our first cruise and also on the 7 day cruise we took to get back to Vancouver.

The ship passed slowly by the glacier, then turned around and gave the other side of the ship an equally good view of the 75 mile long, 6 mile wide massive block of ice. Unlike, Mendenhall Glacier that has been retreating for the past 300-400 years, Hubbard Glacier has been advancing for the past 100 years.

I loved watching these ice flows float by us. I had never seen one until our trip to Alaska and I didn't know they were called ice flows. One of the best things about travel is that you usually learn new things and see things you've never seen before.

On the first cruise, we went out on one of the decks and watched the glacier go by with Sandie and JT and it was cold.

On our back to back cruise, me and Soko followed our fellow cruisers as they walked to the observation deck. I don't know whether it was just colder this day or if it was because we were on the observation deck, but it was so cold that we could only stay out for a few minutes.

The hot chocolate was not hot enough to keep us even a tiny bit warm on the deck.

  

After watching the Hubbard Glacier go by, on our first cruise, it was time to get ready for the Egg Drop competition.  The first thing we had to do was pick up the float from our room and bring it down to the Centrum on the 4th floor. 

This is where we picked up our egg.

 

And then we were told to go up 5 floors where other contestants were waiting for the competition to start.

Me and Susan took the elevator up 5 floors with our creation and watched as one by one the floats were dropped to the Centrum by their creators. 

Most of them made it to the blue plastic floor covering. Some of them landed on the bar. Some got stuck on something along the way. Ours was the only one that sailed from side to side across the Centrum a couple of times before it landed exactly where it was supposed to, on the blue cover. 

It was hilarious! The crowd loved it and me and Susan got lots of high fives from our fellow competitors. Unfortunately, our egg broke but the cruise director told the audience that he liked the origami birds we hung on our float and then tossed it on top of the other losers lol! 

Read about our day in Skagway aboard the White Pass Railroad.

Skagway, Alaska

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The Cottage Market

April J. Harris

Did you pass by the Hubbard Glacier on your Alaskan cruise? Were you impressed? Tell us what you thought.