This was my first trip to El Paso. This city was really the center point of a nearly 3000 mile trip. The trip also included visiting ten national park sites along the way as well as photographing the signs of several universities. Reason: El Paso is one of the 100 largest U.S. metro areas that I had yet to visit (after this one, just seven left).

Also, of the dozens of college football stadiums in the country, El Paso's Sun Bowl has the coolest name of all. Thus, a visit to, and photo of, it was due. However, the night before I was to go there I learned that there was to be an event called Monster Jam (something to do with cars) starting at 2:00 pm. And, until I was driving to El Paso, I was unaware that it is the only part of Texas that is in the Mountain Time Zone (which makes sense for it). So, either I was going to have to miss getting to the Sun Bowl (and probably the adjacent sign for UTEP) due to crowds, or, I had to rearrange my schedule somehow. I decided that (A) since Big Bend was a five-hour thing in of itself -- 2 hours down there in the dark and then right back to where I started in Alpine, and, (B) since I was nervous about driving there in the dark with reportedly so much wildlife around that I would have to drive 45 MPH the whole time, and, (C) I learned the night before that the big cliffs at the Santa Elena Canyon Overlook that I wanted to walk into are actually on the Mexico side and I did not bring my passport. So, Big Bend lost.

I was impressed at how big El Paso appeared. I know it is one of the top 100 largest metro areas in the U.S. (and someone added it is the safest large metro area in the U.S.) but it seemed much bigger while driving through it, both east-to-west then west-to-east. And the bridges are beautiful, done in the southwestern style that I had seen in Albuquerque many years earlier. And, there were a couple of places where there was a whole labyrinth of overpasses and bridges all coming together in curves. Wish I could have gotten a picture. But, those bridges going everywhere sure had the GPS and I confused so a couple of U-turns were in order.

I did get to see the one national park facility in town: Chamizal National Monument. I had studied the Gadsen Purchase in school but do not recall ever hearing of this place. It became national park facility #118 for me.

What really astounded me was that the hotel outdoor swimming pools are already open, and in only the first few days of March. And, the pools are well-used. People stayed out in and around it until sunset.

I thought I had planned it that I was staying at a hotel on the east side of town. That way, in the morning, as I headed east, I would quickly be out of town. WRONG! It took 30 minutes and stopping at numerous traffic lights before I finally got out of town. And the hotel I stayed at in El Paso, the Best Western Airport, was a terrible place to try to sleep. Why? Because the outdoor pool attracted people until nearly midnight. They laughed, yelled, played music, screamed and other such noises that kept waking me up. So what started out as a nice town and nice hotel ended up going downhill.s