El Paso: Bringing It to a Close

Sunday, 14 March 2016
Fort Bliss RV Park — El Paso, Texas
Temps: Hi 79F (26C) / Lo 53F (12C)

We were supposed to head out of El Paso yesterday.  It didn’t happen. There was another high winds warning in the forecast for our planned travel day, so we extended for two more nights.  This sure has been one ‘jiggly’ Phaeton trip.

Part of a mural we came across on our way to the International Art Museum.  It covers the façade of La Fe Centro de Salud Familiar (Faith Family Health Center).

Tomorrow’s weather forecast looks good, however, so we should finally be able to move on … fingers crossed.  Not that we have minded our extended stay in El Paso.  On the contrary, we’ve been enjoying all that the area has to offer.

March 11 … Let’s Check out Some Art

This morning was my writing time … got caught up with the journal.  It was good to take it easy a bit after yesterday’s visit to White Sands National Monument (post here).  By noon, however, we were ready to head into town … this time to an art museum.  El Paso has two art museums that caught my eye … I chose to visit the International Art Museum (free admission).  Any specific reason?  Not really, but I did like the idea that it was housed in a mansion that dates back to circa 1910.

The Turney Mansion exhibits artwork by local and national artists, and in addition to the reproduction of a Mexican casita, also has a collection of artifacts from Asia and Africa.

Going through the doors, visitors find themselves in the parlor/ballroom.  This space is rented out for events, so there’s not much here, but the beautiful stained glass window at the top of the staircase easily diverts one’s attention from the empty space.  Someone at the museum said it was a Tiffany window, but I have not been able to confirm that.

I am permitted to go up to the 2nd floor, which is used as office space, to
get a better angle to photograph this beautiful stained glass window.

A room off to one side was decorated with period furnishings, but a red velvet cord kept us out.  In another small room we found a selection of retablos … Mexican folk art with a devotional theme.  What made these pieces special was that they were salvaged from a trash heap by one of the workers at the museum.

Salvaged from a trash heap and donated to the museum for display.

Our next stop was in the gallery where there was a temporary exhibit displaying the artwork of students from the El Paso Independent School District.  This exhibit actually spilled over into a room in the basement, so there was quite a bit to see.  The ages of the kids ranged from 1st to 12th grade … most of the work was quite impressive … budding artists each of them.

The EPISD exhibit features the work of students using various mediums.

She-Wolf (C. Guillen) … 1st Place	Play Time (E. de Albino) … 1st Place

Shades of Marilyn (J. Luna)	Penny (M. Montes) … 2nd Place

One of the permanent exhibits was entitled The Mexican Revolution … a collection of artifacts ranging from photographs, newspaper clippings, maps, money, clothing, and more.  Also here we found a couple of rooms decorated to represent an early 20th century Mexican casita.  We were asked not to take photos, but that was after I had already clicked off the shutter to capture a few shots of the casita … I was allowed to keep them when I explained they were for my blog.

A replica of an early 20th century casita completes the Mexican Revolution collection.

We were on our way out when we realized there were a few rooms we had missed earlier.  So we turned around to check them out before leaving to satisfy our grumbling tummies.

Left: The Spirit of Hueco Tanks (Marcia Porter)
Right: The Goddess of Coatlicue from Cozcatian (Kolliker Gallery)

Panorama of the African artifacts collection.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the museum.  The EPISD exhibit came as a lovely surprise … we were very impressed with the kids’ artistic capabilities.  We wrapped up our day by returning to L&J Café for some of the Mexican food we had enjoyed so much the first time around.  This time we ordered a couple of Montejo beers to wash down our food.

While waiting for our order, I read up on the history of the eatery, which used to be known as Tony’s Place.  Apparently, when the place first opened in 1927, it was known as much for its food as for bootlegging.  The story goes that the cavalry stationed at Fort Bliss were regulars here, and they even trained a mule to travel a path from the post to the café carrying items to barter for some of Tony’s homemade brew ;-)

This time Mui orders the deshebrada burrito with the fixings (top left) and I have the
beef and chicken fajitas; we wash it down with a couple of Montejos served with a
jigger of lime juice to make micheladas without the sauces, spices, and peppers usually
included in the recipe.  And we split a most excellent tres leche cake for dessert.

Pleasantly sated, we headed home to batten down the hatches in preparation for the 60 mph (96 kph) gusts forecasted for the big wind event.

[I have more photos from the museum in my online gallery if you care to check them out.]

13 March … Not Going Anywhere

The wind event turned out not to be nearly as bad as expected … partially because of the orientation of our site.  We got buffeted some, but for the most part the winds slipped by on either side of us.  Since the storm was delayed reaching El Paso, the winds lagged some into today, but all’s calm now.  It was smart to extend our stay.

Sunrise as a sandstorm passes through the area.  [Photo from the previous windstorm.]

We further jiggled our plans and cut out Carlsbad Caverns since it didn’t make sense to go up that way for just a day … plus I had read that the road we’d have to take from there to our next stop wasn’t kind to big rigs.  We were going to boondock near the caverns … first time for us, so I was sad to see that get scratched off the list … another time I guess.

March 14 … A-Wander in the Magoffin Historic District

Since we had an unexpected day added to our time in El Paso, we went off to explore the Magoffin Historic District today.  We opted to go on our own and downloaded the brochure before we left the Phaeton.  This turned out to be a good thing … since it was Monday, Magoffin House and the visitor center across the street were both closed!  Should have checked the opening hours … oh well.

Monastery of Perpetual Adoration, where the sisters of the order have been living
since 1927.  They arrived in El Paso in 1925, after fleeing Mexico to avoid religious
persecution.  No visitation allowed, but an interesting building nonetheless.

We took our time — certainly longer than the one hour stroll described for the guided tour — stopping at each landmark on the route to read the short description in the brochure.  Back in the 1870s, the area was mostly agricultural land.  Few people lived here … until the Magoffin family built their home in 1875.  When the railroad came to the region a few years later, it brought more people into the area … businesses and residences followed.  The wealthier residents moved out of the neighborhood in the early 1900s, and with their departure commercial and industrial enterprises took over.

Left: The art deco pump station was built in 1937.
Right: Triangle Building; built around 1910 and so named for its distinctive shape.

If you are looking for a walk that will take you through a neighborhood with manicured grounds and pretty homes, this walk isn’t for you.  Several of the brochure descriptions referred to a site as being the former location of some building or another.  Although a revitalization effort was begun in 1985 when the neighborhood was declared a historic district, the area is very much in need of some TLC … tender loving care.  This was even apparent in a beautiful mural that decorates the perimeter wall of the early 20th century trolley/street car barn, which is now used as a maintenance, storage, and training facility by the El Paso Fire Department.

These weren’t the only murals I enjoyed today … several of the government buildings downtown boasted beautiful paintings.  I had to go through security checkpoints in each building, but I did manage to get inside to take photographs of them.

Entitled “A Day in the Pass of the North,” this mural is in the Richard C White Federal Building.

A small section of “Our History,” a mural in the El Paso County Courthouse.

A section of Tom Lea’s “Pass to the North” Mural … in the Old Federal Courthouse.

We were starving by this time, so we took a break from walking to grab a bite to eat at a place called Nolita Corner Bistro.  It was a decent enough place, but the portions were really oversized … we could have easily split either of the two dishes we ordered.  Forgot to take photos of the food.  Instead, I’ll share photos of the animal drinking fountain, one of the landmarks on the walk.

This animal drinking fountain was donated to the city in 1909.  In the early 1900’s 125 of these were presented to communities by the National Humane Society Alliance.  The upper bowl served as a watering trough for horses, and the four small cups around the base were for dogs.

Our energy restored by a late lunch, we resumed our walk to return to where we had parked the car at the Magoffin House visitor center.  We stopped for two photo ops on the way … both at churches … one was open, so we got to enjoy the beautiful stained glass windows there; the other one was locked up tight.

The Church of Immaculate Conception is one of the earliest Catholic churches built in El Paso.

The First Baptist Church, built in 1907.  this is the second location of the church.

I have no idea how many miles we walked today.  I could not find the length of the walk online, and I neglected to make note of what the Fitbit recorded.  Suffice to say that after our meanderings today, our feet were happy when we finally got back to the Phaeton.

Moving on from El Paso tomorrow … fingers crossed that we don’t wake up to any unexpected winds.

[More photos from the Magoffin Historic District walk are in my online gallery.]

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