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 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 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.
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.
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That sounds like such a fun day of exploring!
ReplyDeleteYes and El Paso is small enough to be able to see pretty much all the highlights in one day.
DeleteThe park seems really interesting. I'd like to go there! I love hiking in desert areas. Visiting from Will Blog for Commments.
ReplyDeleteHueco Tanks State Park was up there on our list of favorite state parks. I think you would love it!
DeleteI am always fascinated with the ghost stories you share Cathy. I had a family member share a jarring story with me recently when they rolled over in bed and saw a head laying on the pillow next to them. I guess it wasn't scary as you would expect, but I surely would have screamed! You had me going on the tin cans... you came make them for your RV for small storage, and create themed ones for your trips. I get a kick out of upcycling tin cans, they are actually my favorite thing to work with.
ReplyDeleteI would think it would be pretty scary seeing a head laying on a pillow next to you, unless it was your hubby's with his body attached to it lol! And that's a great idea to turn some tin cans into storage for the RV!
DeleteWow... I wished I could visit. A wonderful journey indeed. Very nice to see you there in this happy smiling photo.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing at
MOSAICMONDAY.
I hope that maybe one day you will be able to!
DeleteYou and your husband travel to such fun and interesting places. I've never been to Texas but I hope to visit sometime in the future.
ReplyDeleteTexas has so many nice cities. I think you could have fun in any one of them.
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