Everywhere I go, it takes about a year to get the pulse of a place--to find the best food, the coolest shops, the activities actually worth paying for. I had a head start in El Paso thanks to my sister, Amy, who is just a little bit extra and works hard to match people with experiences.
We've already mentioned a couple of places, like the adult drive-in theater (which I have not gone to, if you were curious) and the Whoopee Bowl Antique Market (which I have).
One that I had stumbled across while dredging the internet was the Tooth and Veil, a vampire occult and oddity shop. Their website was weird, but it paled in comparison to the store itself. A big, brick building sandwiched between a cleaners that reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and an understated tattoo parlor in the dilapidated northern section of downtown El Paso, Tooth and Veil was...unique. Skinny wire racks of moon-phase postcards and tarot cards, shelves of bizarre doll and pet taxidermy, generic toys and tchotchkes that had been given macabre makeovers, display cases of ornate old jewelry next to inverted crosses and gold pentagrams. Thai demon masks shared wall space with faded portraits of forgotten people. We wound our way around velvet lined fainting couches, heavy wood armoires, and a coffin. To be honest, I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I expected. It had a slightly creepier, ickier vibe than the off-kilter weirdness I had hoped for. Still, I'm glad we got to cross it off the list.
Just a few blocks from Tooth and Veil is Monteleone's Wrap and Roll Cafe. The cafe serves classic 50s diner food out of a restaurant that is made from discarded carnival equipment off the back of someone's house/apparently haunted hotel. To enter, you have to make it past one of the creepy, leering clowns that scarred so many of us in childhood. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get a burger because the hours are a little helter-skelter right now. I've heard good things, though, so I'll stalk their FB page and eventually I'll get my haunted carnie burger.
*Not my picture, stolen from their FB page*
Around my birthday Amy took us to Red Escape Room. Even though some part of me will forever worry about escape rooms being fronts for organ harvesters, this was a great experience. There are a variety of room-themes available. We did the fairy-tale themed room, and between Rick, me, Amy, Erik, and Baby E (and a couple of hints) we managed to smart our way through. It was a lot of fun, and I'm hoping to take the girls back some time to break their losing streak against escape rooms.
Rick and I also caught a touring Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof at the Plaza Theater downtown. It is a lovely old historic building with the lush red and gold old-theater feel mixed with adobe and regal Spanish ironwork. The inside of the auditorium is made to look as if it takes place in the courtyard of an old hacienda, complete with balconies and a dark blue ceiling that flickers with stars once the lights dim. The play itself was fantastic. As a bonus, when we were heading back to the car it was snowing. It was a great birthday gift since I'd been missing the snow.
Amy gets full credit for this one. Thirteen09 is a restaurant run by the culinary program at El Paso Technical College. Amy, a foodie, had stumbled across it and decided that was what she wanted to do for her birthday. The restaurant chooses the menu for you and changes it daily; the restaurant itself is fully staffed by students in the program, with the chef/professors stalking amiably through the bustle in their tall white hats. It has limited seating and hours, so reservations are recommended though not required.
Now, this sort of thing isn't really my jam. I have the sophisticated palate of a five year old child. However, for Amy I was willing to choke down whatever bougie food this place offered and try to enjoy the experience. I'm so glad I did. This is easily one of the top five best meals in my life, if not my the best. It was three courses, and each one was fricking delicious. Even though the servings look rather small, we left satisfied. So props to Amy.
One big advantage of El Paso is that there isn't much to burn. This means that New Year's and the 4th of July can be celebrated properly. About two weeks beforehand little booths full of everything from sparklers to mortars pop up along all the major roads. (If you need year round explosives, New Mexico is only 20 minutes away. There's a warehouse open daily just across the border.) Even though the part of me that grew up in Arizona was sure I was going to burn someone's house down, I picked up a sack full of fireworks. Rick referred to them as my Joe Dirt fireworks. And yes, they weren't as flashy as the mortars and full displays our neighbors were casually blasting into the sky, but we still had a good time. The girls particularly liked the Roman candles.
The El Paso Zoo isn't anything spectacular, but it's worth a visit. The girls and I hit it a couple times a year. A few weeks ago, Rick's class had a family day there. The highlight of the morning was Rick catching a pigeon.
I recently had a chance to visit Cloudcroft, which sits about 2 hours north of us in New Mexico. Since I drive a bus I was asked to help take some of the girls up for girls' camp, a yearly youth activity in our church. I'd never been but had had it recommended to me, so I agreed. (It's weird, but I don't go as many places here in the lower 48 even though everything is much closer than in AK.) It was prettier than I expected. After an hour and a half of flat desert, suddenly the road started twisting through some sandstone cliffs; trees replaced the scrub sage and the temperatures dropped twenty degrees. It looked a lot like Flagstaff or some of the prettier green parts of northern Arizona. The best part was The Apple Barn, a roadside store with fudge, local cherry cider, an old timey feel and a posh pit toilet.
That's all for now, folks. I still have plans for Big Bend State Park, Marfa, the other two missions, and whatever else falls across my radar. There's no rush, now...but that's a post for another day.
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