Two State Parks in One Day

One thing ya gotta give El Paso is the number of nearby state parks.  I only visited two today, but remember that I drive through another when I drove along the Transmountain Drive on Monday.

I had been interested in checking out the Wyler Aerial Tramway since discovering it existed earlier this week.  However, it's only open Friday through Sunday so I had to wait until today and I had to wait until noon (which is when it opens on Fridays).  So, what to do...

Go to Hueco Tanks and take a hike!  The Tanks are large depressions in the rocks of three small mountains where rainwater collected in the middle of the desert. Also, there are pictographs and petroglyphs and a rich history associated to this site.  It's considered to be very sacred to indigenous peoples and you know how I love to visit religious sites.  This was right up my alley.

Because of how special this site is, you have to watch a video before you can explore the area.  Only about half of the park is open to self-guided tours and they're very clear about making sure you know to stay to the marked paths.  I hiked to try to find five different pictograph sites and only managed to find two.  It was still a beautiful site and I got a workout.

There are some ruins there that I believe are an old stage coach stop.  The Butterfield Stage used to stop at the tanks for watering.

 These are all from the same area.  Some are hard to make out...there is a green horse and some geometric designs, but others are kind of obscured or worn out.  Unfortunately, there has been a lot of graffiti over the years and you can see where some of it has been cleared in the last photo there.

I then went on another trail that was supposed to yield more pictographs, which I could not find.  However it was lovely...

And I found one of the larger tanks still filled with water.  

Proof I was there :)

I then circled around to the other side of the park where two large herds of school children were roaming.  I did pretty well at avoiding them as it was easy to hear them coming.  I also found another set of rock paintings that were not nearly so ancient

Unfortunately, a lot of this was is obscured by graffiti.  It's thought that this painting is from the 19th century.  There is a story and, luckily, someone made a painting of the original mural that the State Park Service put on a nearby sign.

It must have been quite the sight back in the day. 

I searched around for more paintings, but only fell on my butt a few times and got stuck by a cactus once.  It was still a gorgeous day for a hike and I got a few scenic photos...

This not the cactus that got me...but I thought it was cool. 

I then hit the road for the tram.  it was about a 40 minute ride as it's a park within a park...and Franklin Mountain State Park is actually within the city limits of El Paso and the tram is within Franklin Mountain State Park...

Anyway, I got lucky and it was fairly deserted.  Got my ticket and got on the tram.  Went up the mountain...where it was COLD.  

This is the counterweight at the bottom

Top of the mountain looking across El Paso to Mexico.  The red X status kind of at the center right is in Juarez.  You can see the Rio Grand bisecting the landscape.  It's actually easiest to see to the left as a squiggly line with a clear bit of land on either side.

Looking toward home...east to Texas.

Looking across the mountains and west to New Mexico.

It was crazy windy up there...

This is where the cables are bolted into the top of the mountain. 

This is one of the cars heading down the mountain. 

There are actually two trams here they both are...one heading down, the other heading up.

I was pretty beat by the time I got back to the apartment.  Lots of time in the sun again today, I've been getting ready to leave tomorrow morning.  Another interesting vacation exploring National (and State) Parks.

Trying the Wines

I decided to take it easy today after two days of hiking around National Parks.  I did get up at a reasonable hour, but puttered around a bit.  Made a turkey bacon sandwich for breakfast, put away the dishes from the dishwasher, read a bit, took a leisurely shower...

The plan was to do what I couldn't on Sunday with my confused GPS...I went to wineries.  The time wasting was because two of the four closest that were open today opened at noon.  One was closed and the last didn't open until 6pm.  So, the list narrowed to two wineries.

The drive was really nice, especially once I crossed the state line into New Mexico.  It was a side of that state I'd never seen before...agricultural (up until now, I'd only seen miles and miles of desert).  There were miles and miles of pecan groves just starting to chance colors for fall (in select spots only).

The wind started picking up as soon as I got to Sombra Antigua.  I found myself pulling into an empty parking lot as it seems Thursdays are slow for the wineries around here.  I was greeted by a very friendly German Shepherd who escorted me to the door.  I sat down at the bar and started tasting wines.

I soon found a favorite and ordered a glass of Desert Rain.

Apparently, wine tasting affects my ability to take a photo with a phone.  

A cute couple from Las Cruces showed up looking to taste wines while researching possible venues for their wedding next year.  I bought two bottles of wine and packed myself up to find the next winery.  No idea why I didn't take photos of that place.  However, my new friend the German Shepherd likes to chase cars.  Even if they are going 5 mph on a dirt road.

The next winery La Vina, was very nice, not that the last one wasn't, but this one was VERY nice.

There was a couple there already tasting (no, not looking at wedding venues), but I hopped right in and started tasting.  Those of you who know me well, have probably figured out that I'm getting pretty buzzed at this point.

La Vina lets you try 6 wines and you keep the glass (unlike Sombra Antigua - 5 wines no glass), so they were already ahead.  I even tried the wine with the chili and was impressed.  

A few minutes after the couple that preceded me departed, the newly engaged couple showed up...apparently we were on the same tour.  We started talking some and, as soon as I told them where I work they started talking about their idea to make a business out of investing in vacation rental properties.

This conversation allowed me to waste some time and get my blood alcohol normalized.

Weird fact...their restrooms don't have external doors, but are hidden behind a half wall.  Everyone can hear you do your business, which is strange.

I bought two more bottles of wine and went outside to take some photos...

These are some of the pecan groves with the mountains behind them

Grapes and vines and stuff...

I stopped on the way home at the outlet mall looking for local souvenirs.  There was one shop with Mexican pottery at reasonable prices, but nothing I really liked.  Stopped at the regular mall, and the same store was there, but I found a turtle planter and a parrot wall hanging.

 Back at the rental now...almost time for bed...but first...

My haul...

Almost Spelunking...

This is gonna be a long post.  I took a cubic buttload of photos and it was hard to pare them down to a few favorites.  So you're getting a bunch and they're mostly not in any particular order.

Today I visited Carlsbad Caverns, which is tied for my second favorite National Park along with The Grand Canyon.  In case you're wondering The Petrified Forrest is the first and Acadia has been bumped down to third (after spending 20+ years in first).  Carlsbad is kind of like the underground Grand Canyon...

I didn't start out so early today and lost an hour because I crossed back into Central time.  It was a long trip through a lot of desert, but broken up by a drive over a very large mountain.  Some of the views were very pretty

I did stop and take a photo of the mountains of Guadalupe Mountain National Park.

About a half hour later I was at Carlsbad Caverns.  I decided to do the walk down into the natural entrance rather than take the elevator.  It was a freaking workout, but there is a lot of cool stuff along that walk, so an hour straight down into Hell I went...

Fair warning...

And that's the way down

 WAY down..

The last glimpse of sunlight before you are completely underground. The trail in is about a mile and a quarter long and is fine once you get past the smell of bat guano.  Visitors cannot go into the bat cave, but you can sure smell it.

It's impossible to convey the scope and size of the caverns.  And I was only in two parts of them, the Natural Entrance and the Big Room.  The Big Room hike is another mile and a quarter, so it was a big day for Donna.  I'm just gonna toss some photos at you, in no particular order.  I'll try to caption a few. Enjoy!

This one is called the Bone Room because the rock formations look like bones (no real bones here).

Yes, this one looks like a boob...it's been pointed out.

The above few photos are of stalactite formations called "chandeliers."

The above couple of pics are of a section called the "Hall of Giants"

This is an old cable ladder used by early explorers.

This is Mirror Lake (for obvious reasons)

This one is called "The Rock of Ages"

A close-up of the Rock

I'm pretty sure this one is called "The Totem Pole"

One of only a couple of photos I took with a flash, "The Whale's Mouth."

My camera battery started dying about halfway through The Big Room, so I used my phone for a backup.  Weirdly enough, a camera phone worked better.  I didn't have a tripod, so getting clear photos in low light with a camera was tough.   I did have to do a selfie using the blind side of the phone so that I could do a flash photo.

Luckily, there is an elevator to the surface and I didn't have to haul my tired ass out of there on foot. 

I hit the gift shop and went to the restaurant, where I got some decent tacos and black beans.  I then hit the road into town to get gas and got the heck outta dodge.  I really did not want to drive those mountain roads after dark.  I wasn't too keen on driving through the desert in the dark either. 

I didn't spend too much time in the dark desert, but it was definitely night when I got back to the apartment. 

I am seriously thinking of crossing Guadalupe Mountains off the list.  I need a day off tomorrow from driving all over creation.  I may try the wineries again...we shall see...