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May 17, 2018 • Local News

The Washington Post: You're going where? El Paso

I forgot my passport, but that didn’t matter. I was in El Paso, technically not Mexico, but close enough. I knew that Mexico was over there — the country felt like a portrait whose eyes were always following me — but it was also here, on this side of the fence. (One constant reminder of the shared boundary: U.S. Border Patrol vehicles parked along Interstate 10 and helicopters flying overhead.) Signs in restaurant windows advertised menudo soup, and not just for Sunday supper; girls dressed in their quinceañera best posed for photos in San Jacinto Plaza. At H&H Car Wash and Coffee Shop, a waitress returned my morning greeting with a “buenos dias” before setting down a heaping plate of huevos rancheros. At bars around town, I learned that a chile is the cocktail condiment of choice. Two customers at Love Buzz introduced me to the paleta shot, which evokes the chile-fied watermelon lollipops of their Mexican youth, and a bartender at Cafe Central rimmed a mescal-filled glass with ground-up crickets, chiles and salt. Note to high school Spanish teachers: Add the phrase “sal de grillos” to your lesson plan. Of course, the southern Joneses aren’t the sole influences on this sun-broiled city in the Chihuahuan Desert. El Paso is in the United States, after all, which means the Spaniards left their mark, as did — and still do — the Pueblo Indians. A shopkeeper at the Tigua Indian Cultural Center shared her recipe for traditional oven-baked bread. I’d need flour, water, salt, lard and an horno, she told me, or I could throw down six bucks for quicker loaf gratification. And then there is the Texas connection. To feel it, I could look up at the 459-foot-long illuminated star set in the Franklin Mountains, or down at the pair of Rocketbuster cowboy boots that taught me how to walk the El Paso walk.

Local Faves

The 1National Border Patrol Museum, 1National Border Patrol MuseumGoogle Map: 4315 Woodrow Bean Transmountain Rd.Website: borderpatrolmuseum.com915-759-6060 a nonprofit attraction started by retired agents and open since 1984, is full of “who knew?” moments. For example, did you know that the government created the earliest incarnation of the agency in 1904 to apprehend or deter Chinese and European immigrants who had failed their inspections at Ellis Island? (The BP as we know it arrived two decades later, on May 28, 1924.) That the enforcers accompanied James Meredith, an African American student, when he registered at the segregated University of Mississippi? And that illegal immigrants affix horseshoe-shaped wood blocks and sponges to their shoes to avoid detection? The information at this compact museum comes at you faster than the “Miami Vice”-style jet boat that was seized in the Miami area and used by Buffalo’s station to police the Great Lakes. At the gift shop, stock up on Border Patrol souvenirs such as beer koozies, a necklace-and-earring set, T-shirts and baseball caps, including two styles that require credentials to purchase.

2 Franklin Mountains State Park, 2Franklin Mountains State ParkGoogle Map: 1331 McKelligon Canyon Rd.Website: tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/franklin-mountains915-566-6441 the country’s largest urban park, resembles a rocky mohawk parting El Paso. The nearly 27,000-acre sanctuary stretches to the New Mexico state line and incorporates the Wyler Aerial Tramway (one-way ride time: four minutes) and more than 100 miles of hiking and mountain biking trails. Choose your entrance wisely. The Tom Mays Unit contains campsites and a diverse network of treks, including the easy-on-the-knees Nature Walk and the moderate Aztec Cave Trail, which ends with caverns that once held pottery sherds and yucca mats and sandals. At McKelligon Canyon, pick up maps and advice, including a reality check on rattlesnakes and the heat, at the small visitors center and gift shop. (The park is building a new headquarters and visitors center at Tom Mays to replace the old facility; ETO is next summer.) The challenging Ron Coleman Trail, which inches along Franklin’s spine, departs from here and requires rock-scampering skills. With the exception of a sliver of coverage on the West Cottonwood Spring Trail, the park has scant shade and no taps, so visor on and water up before setting out.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/lifestyle/vacation-ideas/things-to-do-in-el-paso/?utm_term=.d7b6fede51ff