Our arrival into ELP (El Paso
International Airport) was quite welcoming. LOL.
When in Texas, one must get fajitas served Texas style with steak, chicken, and shrimp! The salsa was muy caliente (spicy)!
The Mexican Fried Ice Cream was what I needed to cool down the spice at the end!
After lunch, we headed out to Las Cruces, New Mexico which is only about 50 miles away. The chili wreaths are a trademark of New Mexico.
The area of Mesilla is quite historic since this old Mexican town transfered over to the United States after the Gadsden Purchase in 1854 which allowed us to build a southern rail road.
This is the plaza of old Mesilla with an old church in the background.
I saw this interesting piece of history. Southern New Mexico was Confederate territory during the Civil War.
Billy The Kid died in Mesilla.
We found a chocolate shop that made homemade ice cream in the Mesilla Plaza area. I got Pecan Crunch since this area is the world's largest pecan producing region. FYI - no masks for customers needed! :)
Here is a good example of traditional adobe architecture which is found throughout New Mexico.
We enjoyed dinner at Andale in Mesilla. This dessert is known as sopapillas which are warm fried dough with cinnamon and sugar and served with honey on the side. Sweet!
After dinner, we drove to the Recycled Road Runner statue of I-10 to catch the sunset. The Road Runner is the state bird of New Mexico.
Joy and I loved that area by the Recycled Road Runner sculpture.
The views of Las Cruces along with the sunset were amazing!
We went to White Sands National Park the next day. White Sands is the newest national park as of this posting since it got that designation in 2019.
The sand is gypsum which is created when the rock from the surrounding mountains break down over many years.
Our hotel in Las Cruces gave us sleds so we could slide down the sand dunes.
Driving on sand was interesting!
I love that Welcome To Texas sign! One day, I want to return home to the Lone Star State!
The I-10 in El Paso hugs the US-Mexico border. One can see into Juarez, Mexico from the highway. The border wall is visible in this photo too.
We got dinner at Rib Hut which was a down home Texas style BBQ place. I got beef ribs, brisket, and chicken along with homestyle sides like potato salad! We loved it!
After dinner, I drove us to Ascarate Park which hugs the US-Mexico border also to watch the fireworks show for the 4th of July!
Our hotel was next to the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). This is the Sun Bowl Stadium.
The UTEP campus is right by the border so one can look down into Juarez, Mexico from the campus. The Rio Grande River is visible here. Juarez looked really bad with unpaved roads.
Joy and I enjoyed our walk around the UTEP campus. They had a cool Chihuhuan style garden on campus.
The UTEP campus is modeled after a village in Bhutan since the wife of one of the past college presidents through the area looked like Bhutan with the hills.
One can definitely see the Bhutanese influences in the buildings on campus! I was telling Joy how much money the UT System has due to the oil rights on public lands throughout Texas.
Ignore my bed hair! LOL. We went for the walk around campus after waking up and having breakfast at the Hilton Garden Inn. The temple behind me was built in Bhutan.
This is the front of the temple.
I am a strong supporter of royal families throughout the world since my great great grandfather was a raja or prince in British India.
Our hotel had the Bhutanese architecture also.
We went to the Chamizal National Memorial on the border to learn about past border disputes when the river moved. President Trump's border wall is visible in the background! It looks cool!
Joy and I enjoyed learning about the history of the border disputes around El Paso. I recalled learning about this back in Texas history in 7th grade when we lived in Plano, TX.
This was an original border post from the past when the Rio Grande River jumped its banks and moved further north.
No, we are still in the US. These are old border markings before the concrete channel was built for the Rio Grande in this area to officially mark the border. Joy looks scared still. LOL.
We checked out the shopping district in downtown El Paso called El Centro. This area goes all the way to the bridge that goes over the border.
Here are some older buildings in downtown El Paso.
We enjoyed tacos at a local restaurant in downtown. This guy is making me a jalapeno margarita with local tequila from Juarez.
The finished product was great!
We went boot shopping at the Tony Lama Outlet store. El Paso is the boot manufacturing capital of the US.
Joy and I both purchased nice pairs of cowboy boots!
We went to Ojos Locos Cantina for dessert. It is a Latin Hooters.
Our Ojos Chica, Ney, took care of us.
We got some pineapple agua fresca along with some great churros with dulce de leche ice cream!
I loved how the Texas Rangers had a big following down in El Paso! This cantina mostly showed soccer games however as Mexicans love soccer.
We saw the Sun Bowl throphy at the airport when we were leaving.
Joy and I took a
short trip for the three day holiday weekend during the 4th of July to
El Paso, Las Cruces, and White Sands. We flew out to El Paso
bright and early on that Saturday via Phoenix. Upon arrival into
El Paso, we got our rental car and wanted to get some authentic Tex Mex
for lunch before driving to New Mexico! Los Bandidos de Carlos
& Mickey was highly recommended so we drove there for lunch.
We loved the housemade chips and salsa! It was like I remembered
it growing up in North Texas. I decided to go Texas style and got
steak, chicken, and shrimp for my fajitas! We requested a spicy
salsa, and it was REALLY SPICY! So, I got Mexican Fried Ice Cream
to finish off that amazing meal. E Comido la comida de Texas y
Mexico! I have been learning Spanish via the Pimsleur system
available on Audible since Joy and I love to travel so much and go to
Latin America often. My previous company offered the Audible for
business to us so I got free access to the audio books.
We drove out to Las Cruces next. From the I-10 in El Paso, one can see into Juarez, Mexico! It is so trippy! On one side, it is the United States! On the other side, it is like a third world hell hole! There were buildings with no windows or doors. I will saw the buildings were colorful. We also saw the Rio Grande River which is the border between the United States and Mexico. Moreover, I could see President Trump's awesome border wall which looked like it was doing its job! The liberal idiots do not understand that a wall DOES work!
Las Cruces is a short drive from El Paso on I-10. After checking into the Hampton Inn, we went to explore Mesilla, which is a historic area just south of Las Cruces. In 1854, this area became part of the US when we purchased the southern part of New Mexico and Arizona to build a Southern rail road in the Gadsden Purchase. The plaza in Mesilla has an old church as well as a gazebo like thing to mark the hand over to the United States. One can see great examples of adobe architecture too in this part of town. While exploring the historical markers, I read that Mesilla was part of the Confederacy also. It was the seat of the Confederate Government in New Mexico territory. I also saw a building where Billy the Kid died. Wow! We found a shop that was selling homemade ice cream and chocolate so we stopped in and got some. I loved the pecan crunch ice cream. The Las Cruces area is known for being the world's largest pecan growing area too. As we were landing into ELP, I could see all the pecan trees from the air. One would think this area was just a barren dessert, but it was quite green. The girl helping us had a New Mexico State shirt on so I assumed she went there since it was in Las Cruces. Yes, she was pretty. No, my wife does not mind me checking out eye candy. LOL.
We enjoyed dinner that night at Andele! Andele means fast in Spanish. This famous restaurant served amazing New Mexico style Mexican food in a casual atmosphere. I enjoyed a mango Jarrito, which is a Mexican soda. Normally, I drink diet drinks, but I figure YOLO! LOL. I ordered sopapillas with cinnamon and sugar to finish off the meal. They brought us honey on the side which is how they are served. Sopapillas are fried dough that is eaten as a dessert. My wife never had them before. I had them before in Northern New Mexico.
After dinner, we went to see the Recycled Road Runner statue and check out the sunset and beautitful sky views of Las Cruces and the surrounding mountains. The New Mexico sky is really beautiful during their monsoon months which is in the summer. The Recycled Road Runner was made out of trash, but it looked cool. The Road Runner is the state bird of New Mexico.
The next morning, our hotel let us borrow sleds so we could slide down the sand dunes at White Sands. We had an hour drive into White Sands National Park, but we made a quick stop at the White Sands Missile Range where we test our missiles. The area was still closed to visitors due to Covid protocols, but I saw an actual road runner there. This thing was so fast!
White Sands National Park is the newest national park at the time of my writing this. In 2019, it was elevated from being a National Monument to a National Park. The white sand dunes are gypsum. Gypsum is made when the rock from the nearby mountains break down over time as seas covered the area and receded. We had a picnic lunch that we brought in before sledding down the dunes. They were were not as slippery as ice however. It took some effort for us to get the sleds up to speed. LOL.
After dropping off the sleds at the hotel, we headed back to El Paso. The hotel staff at the Hampton Inn in Las Cruces were so nice! They trusted us with their sleds even after we checked out. After crossing into Texas, we went to the Outlet Mall and did some shopping. We checked into the Hilton Garden Inn by the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) after shopping. The campus hugs the US-Mexico border. We had a view of Juarez from our room. For dinner, we enjoyed Texas style BBQ at the Rib Hut near the hotel. Afterwards, we ventured out to Ascarte Park to catch the 4th of July fireworks. Ascarate Park is a large golf course and park near the border too. We took the new border tollway back to our hotel. I thought it was so interesting how we were straddling the border!
The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel before getting coffee at a local coffeeshop. We took a nice walk on the UTEP campus, and we got to see the Sun Bowl. From the campus, one can look into Juarez, Mexico. Joy and I were both impressed with how nice the UTEP campus was. I told her that the UT System has lots of money from oil leases on public lands that the Great State of Texas owns. Since Texas was once an independent country, Texas retained the rights to the public lands when Texas entered the union in 1845. We checked out this cool garden on campus where we met the head groundskeeper who graduated from UC Davis. He told us how the campus was modeled after a village in Bhutan since one of the past college president's wife thought this area looked like Bhutan. I knew that the architecture looked familiar after watching videos on Bhutan before. He told us to go check out the temple on campus which was built in Bhutan and brought over here. I liked how the students did not have to mask on campus unlike on some campuses in the Blue States.
We checked out the Chamizal National Monument after checking out. This monument marked the different border points between the US and Mexico since the Rio Grande's path often moved as the river would jump its bank. The treaty of Guadalupe Hildago which ended the Mexican-American War established the Rio Grande as the border between the US and Mexico in Texas, but if the river moved, the border would move. In the early 1900s, the Rio Grande flooded, and the US gained additional territory. This led to a border dispute until the 1960s when the US and Mexico agreed to build a concrete channel as the official border. The US and Mexico both ceded land to each other, but the Mexicans got too much land out of it. I messaged my friends and told them that it was dumb Democrat Presidents who gave away too much of our land. LOL. One can see President Trump's border wall too from the monument. It does a great job of keeping out the illegals!
Afterwards, we hung out in downtown El Paso. The shopping district of El Centro looks like a mini Mexican bazaar. We got some great deals on stuff there including a Texas Rangers backpack. The Rangers have a large following in the El Paso area. There is a bridge also that goes from El Centro into Juarez, but we decided against it since Juarez is not as safe. We had lunch at a great taco place in downtown. The bartender made me one amazing jalapeno margarita!
El Paso is known for making cowboy boots also. We went to the Tony Lama Boot Factory Store to get some new boots. Tony Lama owns Justin and Nacona also. We both found pairs we liked.
Since we still had some time before our flight home, we went to Ojos Locos for a drink and dessert. This Mexican style Hooters has beautiful seniorita waitresses wearing skimpy outfits. Our cute Ojos Chicas, Ney, was very pretty. She was new, but she took care of us well. We both got some pineapple aguas fresca. It was cool wearing her say pina (for pineapple). This cantina shows lots of soccer games since Latinos love that sport. However, they had the Rangers channel on too for baseball.
Overall, we had a fun time in this part of the country, but there is not that much to do. I would probably combine it with a trip to Carlsbad Caverns too. However, we had an excuse to go back into ELP now since we still need to see that.
We drove out to Las Cruces next. From the I-10 in El Paso, one can see into Juarez, Mexico! It is so trippy! On one side, it is the United States! On the other side, it is like a third world hell hole! There were buildings with no windows or doors. I will saw the buildings were colorful. We also saw the Rio Grande River which is the border between the United States and Mexico. Moreover, I could see President Trump's awesome border wall which looked like it was doing its job! The liberal idiots do not understand that a wall DOES work!
Las Cruces is a short drive from El Paso on I-10. After checking into the Hampton Inn, we went to explore Mesilla, which is a historic area just south of Las Cruces. In 1854, this area became part of the US when we purchased the southern part of New Mexico and Arizona to build a Southern rail road in the Gadsden Purchase. The plaza in Mesilla has an old church as well as a gazebo like thing to mark the hand over to the United States. One can see great examples of adobe architecture too in this part of town. While exploring the historical markers, I read that Mesilla was part of the Confederacy also. It was the seat of the Confederate Government in New Mexico territory. I also saw a building where Billy the Kid died. Wow! We found a shop that was selling homemade ice cream and chocolate so we stopped in and got some. I loved the pecan crunch ice cream. The Las Cruces area is known for being the world's largest pecan growing area too. As we were landing into ELP, I could see all the pecan trees from the air. One would think this area was just a barren dessert, but it was quite green. The girl helping us had a New Mexico State shirt on so I assumed she went there since it was in Las Cruces. Yes, she was pretty. No, my wife does not mind me checking out eye candy. LOL.
We enjoyed dinner that night at Andele! Andele means fast in Spanish. This famous restaurant served amazing New Mexico style Mexican food in a casual atmosphere. I enjoyed a mango Jarrito, which is a Mexican soda. Normally, I drink diet drinks, but I figure YOLO! LOL. I ordered sopapillas with cinnamon and sugar to finish off the meal. They brought us honey on the side which is how they are served. Sopapillas are fried dough that is eaten as a dessert. My wife never had them before. I had them before in Northern New Mexico.
After dinner, we went to see the Recycled Road Runner statue and check out the sunset and beautitful sky views of Las Cruces and the surrounding mountains. The New Mexico sky is really beautiful during their monsoon months which is in the summer. The Recycled Road Runner was made out of trash, but it looked cool. The Road Runner is the state bird of New Mexico.
The next morning, our hotel let us borrow sleds so we could slide down the sand dunes at White Sands. We had an hour drive into White Sands National Park, but we made a quick stop at the White Sands Missile Range where we test our missiles. The area was still closed to visitors due to Covid protocols, but I saw an actual road runner there. This thing was so fast!
White Sands National Park is the newest national park at the time of my writing this. In 2019, it was elevated from being a National Monument to a National Park. The white sand dunes are gypsum. Gypsum is made when the rock from the nearby mountains break down over time as seas covered the area and receded. We had a picnic lunch that we brought in before sledding down the dunes. They were were not as slippery as ice however. It took some effort for us to get the sleds up to speed. LOL.
After dropping off the sleds at the hotel, we headed back to El Paso. The hotel staff at the Hampton Inn in Las Cruces were so nice! They trusted us with their sleds even after we checked out. After crossing into Texas, we went to the Outlet Mall and did some shopping. We checked into the Hilton Garden Inn by the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) after shopping. The campus hugs the US-Mexico border. We had a view of Juarez from our room. For dinner, we enjoyed Texas style BBQ at the Rib Hut near the hotel. Afterwards, we ventured out to Ascarte Park to catch the 4th of July fireworks. Ascarate Park is a large golf course and park near the border too. We took the new border tollway back to our hotel. I thought it was so interesting how we were straddling the border!
The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel before getting coffee at a local coffeeshop. We took a nice walk on the UTEP campus, and we got to see the Sun Bowl. From the campus, one can look into Juarez, Mexico. Joy and I were both impressed with how nice the UTEP campus was. I told her that the UT System has lots of money from oil leases on public lands that the Great State of Texas owns. Since Texas was once an independent country, Texas retained the rights to the public lands when Texas entered the union in 1845. We checked out this cool garden on campus where we met the head groundskeeper who graduated from UC Davis. He told us how the campus was modeled after a village in Bhutan since one of the past college president's wife thought this area looked like Bhutan. I knew that the architecture looked familiar after watching videos on Bhutan before. He told us to go check out the temple on campus which was built in Bhutan and brought over here. I liked how the students did not have to mask on campus unlike on some campuses in the Blue States.
We checked out the Chamizal National Monument after checking out. This monument marked the different border points between the US and Mexico since the Rio Grande's path often moved as the river would jump its bank. The treaty of Guadalupe Hildago which ended the Mexican-American War established the Rio Grande as the border between the US and Mexico in Texas, but if the river moved, the border would move. In the early 1900s, the Rio Grande flooded, and the US gained additional territory. This led to a border dispute until the 1960s when the US and Mexico agreed to build a concrete channel as the official border. The US and Mexico both ceded land to each other, but the Mexicans got too much land out of it. I messaged my friends and told them that it was dumb Democrat Presidents who gave away too much of our land. LOL. One can see President Trump's border wall too from the monument. It does a great job of keeping out the illegals!
Afterwards, we hung out in downtown El Paso. The shopping district of El Centro looks like a mini Mexican bazaar. We got some great deals on stuff there including a Texas Rangers backpack. The Rangers have a large following in the El Paso area. There is a bridge also that goes from El Centro into Juarez, but we decided against it since Juarez is not as safe. We had lunch at a great taco place in downtown. The bartender made me one amazing jalapeno margarita!
El Paso is known for making cowboy boots also. We went to the Tony Lama Boot Factory Store to get some new boots. Tony Lama owns Justin and Nacona also. We both found pairs we liked.
Since we still had some time before our flight home, we went to Ojos Locos for a drink and dessert. This Mexican style Hooters has beautiful seniorita waitresses wearing skimpy outfits. Our cute Ojos Chicas, Ney, was very pretty. She was new, but she took care of us well. We both got some pineapple aguas fresca. It was cool wearing her say pina (for pineapple). This cantina shows lots of soccer games since Latinos love that sport. However, they had the Rangers channel on too for baseball.
Overall, we had a fun time in this part of the country, but there is not that much to do. I would probably combine it with a trip to Carlsbad Caverns too. However, we had an excuse to go back into ELP now since we still need to see that.