The Sand Was SO Very White

I actually got up early and hit the road at a decent hour of the morning.  I actually found found myself running low on gasoline about halfway through White Sands Missile Range.  I decided to go back 15 miles because there are no gas stations anywhere near the park.  I figured I'd be driving around all day and didn't want to freak myself out again.

Big mountain between Las Cruses and White Sands that I got to go over twice each way.  Poor Ruby (the Jeep).

Got there and checked out the shop (because it's on the way in) and got a couple of things...Hey, Centennial Celebration T-shirts are on sale and there were purple ones!

So, White Sands....pretty much aptly named.  You kind of transition into it with more plant life than sand...then you get to fields of white sand.  Funny thing...I was wearing sunglasses and kept thinking to myself..."this is more beige than white, what's the big deal?"  Then, I realized I was wearing sunglasses with brown lenses...LOL.

So lots of white sand with scrubby green things...tallest thing are the yucca plants.

I went to do the Alkali Flats hiking trail...got about a half mile in and took some photos of the unending sea of white...

Decided this was a good time for a selfie...

Then thought better of a 5 mile hike in sun that was coming from above and below (reflecting from the superwhite sand).  I headed back to the car...

Had my picnic lunch and drove around the loop one more time.  I wanted to stay until closing because there is a daily "sunset stroll" through the dunes, led by a park employee and it sounded really cool.  But, there just wasn't enough to keep me busy from 1 until 4.

I set my newly updated GPS to "craft store" and ended up in a shop full of silver jewelry and pottery in nearby Alamogordo.  I then found the downtown area...depressingly without gift shops.  But, I had wasted a couple of hours...

Back to the park (your $5 gets you 6 days admission!) and waited for the group to form.  We took a little walk together around the dunes and saw some more plant life...like this half buried cottonwood.

Then it was time for the sunset.

Unfortunately, moonrise was a half hour after the park closed.  The super moon would have looked really cool over the sands.

Back in the rental doing laundry.  Need a shower to get the sunscreen off.  Bed soon...gonna try Carlsbad Caverns tomorrow.

Monday Was a Wash

It would have so sounded better if Wednesday was the wash, but no...it was today.    The plan was to go to the Visitor's center and do some local stuff.  That ended up being a hilarious idea.

For some reason, El Paso has decided to do EVERY road repair all at the same time.  And they are really shitty at posting detours, displaying only "take alternate route" signs.  I spent most of the day driving in circles.

When I found parking that was, ostensibly, nearby...I then got turned around trying to walk to my destination.  However, there was cool public art

I finally found the Visitor's Center (which was surrounded by construction) and loaded up on tourist info.  The center itself was fun as it's the home of #1, a very early steam engine.

The room itself was super warm as it's climate controlled for the engine.  Fun fact

The engine was made in New Jersey....small world.

After perusing my pamphlets, I thought that doing the self-guided walking tour of the Magoffin Historic District sounded like fun (there are a few different historic districts in El Paso, I found out later).  So I headed out to find the closest parking I could.  I went around in a circle twice before finding the garage I located on the GPS..

Oh yeah, to follow up on yesterday, it seems I did manage to update the GPS.  Unfortunately, it's brain is not big enough to process the new info and it keeps freezing.  Never a dull moment.

Back to the tour.  I walked about a mile to the beginning of the walking tour and found that there was free parking on the street right in front of the first stop on the tour.  Of course...but it was a cool location.

This is the Magoffin Home State Historic Site.  Unfortunately, it's closed on Mondays.  Really unfortunate, as there wasn't much that was as interesting on the walking tour. 

Across the street is a visitors center

That used to be the home of Dr. August Justice, a prominent El Paso citizen.  Later, it was the home of Enrique Llorente the Mexican Consul under President Francisco Madero during the Mexican Revolution.  

Unfortunately, many of the historic landmarks on the walking tour were either gone or in extreme disrepair.  

A notable exception

This is the Monastery of Perpetual Adoration although the website says it's the Christ the King Monastery, home of the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.  

I think the silver dome is pretty cool.  One other thing

This is a pump station for Hueco Well #17A. Kinda cool Art Deco style building. 

I continued on for awhile, but the remaining buildings were depressing and I just didn't care anymore.  So I quit around stop #16 (ironically, halfway through) and headed back to my rental for lunch. 

Grilled cheese..YUM!

I briefly considered the Wyler Aerial Tramway, but found out it only runs Friday - Sunday.

I thought I'd head to an El Paso themed gift shop to buy some souvenirs.  Stymied by the crazy construction again.  Switched the GPS to the nearest Mall and CONSTRUCTION AGAIN.

I gave up and headed back. I'm readying to head out to White Sands tomorrow.  Might take a side trip to see some ancient cave dwellings.  Cross your fingers I find my way there somehow. 

Getting Around

Most of my day was spent trying to figure out how I was going to get around without a reliable GPS on my phone.

Got up late and checked in to Facebook, where I was reminded I have a friend who lives here.  We chatted a bit on messenger, exchanged numbers and made plans to go to lunch at L&J Cafe, a "not to miss" experience in El Paso.

Food in this city is very different than Austin.  Austin is all about the Tex-Mex, while El Paso is more traditional Mexican fare.  Makes sense, as it's actually possible to walk from here to Mexico.  I had mole enchiladas with chicken...

Holey mole!  LOL...it was super yummy and I devoured the whole thing. 

I spent the rest of the day driving around trying to get the lay of the land and checking out the possibility of using my old GPS to navigate.  No go.  They've redone a lot of the highways around here and the exits have changed.  So, tonight I tried to buy a map update...which I don't think went too well.  I'll check on it tomorrow.

In the meantime, here are some photos I took from the Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive that goes through the Franklin Mountains State Park.  We're in the high desert and El Paso sits in the middle of a nifty bunch of mountains that you can drive up....complete with scary as hell drop off.  

Still, it's pretty...

I'm tired....nite!

Almost Mexico.

Or...according to T-Mobile, entirely in Mexico.  More on that in a bit.

So, I started out later than I had intended, but hit the road at a reasonable hour.  It was 8 hours of absolutely nothing...forever.  Unlike last year, west Texas wasn't something to get through before I got to New Mexico and Arizona.  I drove through the most West Texas I possibly could almost all the way to where there was no more Texas.

The only exciting during this was the tense half hour I spent hoping I'd make it to a gas station with the little gas pump light mocking me from the dashboard.  Honestly, I think I was down to the last half gallon.

So, I've never had to worry about running out of data before because most of the time, I'm doing data using stuff while on WiFi.  However, there is West Texas and Google Maps.  T-Mobile has NO coverage for a lot of West Texas so I have to use roaming data.  I don't get charged for it...but it runs out and stops working.  Apparently while in the middle of Rt. 10 in El Paso before it told me what exit I needed to take.  Yeah, not fun.

I stumbled upon the right street and found my way there before having to call the owner of the rental.  Upon checking my phone, I found out that my phone thinks it's in Mexico because there are more T-Mobile cell towers in Mexico than there are in Texas.

I did call T-Mobile and I do get unlimited (but slower) data in Mexico, but I'll probably not be in range very far outside of the city.  A very wonderful CS rep who was working too much overtime figured out how to get me a few more MB and is going to call me the Monday after I get home to get my account updated (saving me $10 a month).

My host recommended doing some winery tours tomorrow, which sounds like fun.  There is also a garden at the El Paso campus of UT with a Buddhist meditation garden that is intriguing.  I also need to do grocery shopping.  Luckily, I was able to forage dinner from frozen food left by previous guests.

The plan for the week includes Guadalupe Mountain National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and White Sands National Monument.  Maybe Mexico if I can find an organized group thing...I remembered my passport!

Last Day and I Try to Do Everything

I did a lot of packing tonight and I need to get some sleep.  So I'll give you a brief overview and throw some pictures at you.

I headed to Paddington to get on the Circle line and head to Parliament and Westminster. I walked around for a bit and took a ton of photos.  Then I walked to Trafalgar Square where I checked out the St. George's Day festivities.  Went into the National Gallery and found some of my favorite paintings, then headed across the street where I *FINALLY* got to visit St. Martin in the Fields and have tea in the crypt there.

Then, to Tower hill where I walked around the Tower of London and walked back and forth across Tower Bridge.  I actually got to see the drawbridge go up and a tall ship went through!  I was pretty tired at this point, but there were a couple of souvenirs I had to pick up, so It was down to Oxford Circus...then Picadilly Circus and a small detour to Carnaby Street in the middle.

Ok, back home tomorrow...