This is my penultimate week in El Paso. With only two weeks
to go, I am thinking more and more about returning home to Ohio. My experience
here has been unique and interesting and it will soon be over.
The week began with St. Patrick’s Day and I celebrated with
a couple of pints of Guinness and a Tex-Mex corned beef sandwich made with
green peppers and sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and a spicy dressing. It was a
little too hot for my taste.
The previous Sunday I had visited the International Space
Hall of Fame in Alamogordo, NM. So, as I was browsing Netflix, I found “Apollo
13”. I had seen the film more than 20 years ago when it first came out and it
was still special to watch it again.
A couple of days later, I slept until after 9AM. I was
really tired because I hadn’t slept well the previous two nights due to
breathing difficulty. According the Weather Channel website, the tree pollen
count was extremely high this week and it was really affecting me.
Also, I’ve found that when I try to walk fast or climb a
hill, it is harder to breathe here than at home. The altitude is about 3,800
feet here, about 3,000 feet higher than the Akron area that is around 900 feet.
I was hoping for an improvement of my asthma here, but it hasn’t worked out
that way. That’s a major disappointment because I was looking for a place to
spend the winter that will aid my breathing difficulties.
Thursday afternoon, Pam arrived in El Paso and I picked her
up at the airport. The main parking area is a huge surface lot and it is very
spread out. So, it’s a long trek from the terminal to the car. On the way home
from the airport, I took her on a brief driving tour of the west side of El
Paso before we stopped for a Mexican dinner.
Friday, we did some sightseeing and toured the Joseph Magoffin
home. He was born in Kentucky and eventually settled in El Paso. He was a
farmer and also an astute businessman. He eventually convinced the railroad
company to come through El Paso instead of taking a more direct route through
Las Cruces, NM, about 40 miles north.
After that, we visited a couple of churches that were once
missions on the El Camino Real. We drove southeast outside El Paso and stopped in
the towns of Socorro and San Elizario. Both of the churches are still active
Catholic parishes. It was very interesting to learn more about the role of these
missions in developing the society of their areas dating back to the late
1600s.
On Saturday, we decided to do some sightseeing in downtown
El Paso. The city has developed an arts plaza that contains a restored theater,
a concert hall for the El Paso Symphony, an art museum and a history museum. We
visited the El Paso Museum of Art that has an extensive collection of works
with a southwestern theme. There was also an impressive display of paintings by
contemporary American artist Julie Speed and a special collection of Mexican retablos,
small paintings on wood or tin with religious messages, usually to give thanks for surviving
illness or some other catastrophe.
We also explored the El Paso History
Museum. It had lots of interesting artifacts and documents illustrating the
history of this area. One I found most interesting was a production assistant’s
notebook from the filming of the movie “Glory Road.” It contained notes about
different locations used in shooting the film and a copy of the shooting permit
for the film issued by the city.
Across the street is Southwestern University Park, the
baseball home of the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas. The stadium opened in 2014
and has a capacity of 9,500. It reminds me a lot of Akron’s Canal Park with the
brick exterior and the field below street level. I would love to see a game there,
but the team’s home opener isn’t until after I leave El Paso.
Saturday ended with watching “Jersey Boys” on Netflix. We
had talked about seeing stage versions of this in either Cleveland or Akron,
but there always seemed to be a conflict. It was a good film and we enjoyed
seeing the actors cover some great hits of the Four Seasons in the movie.
I be back in a week or so with my final blog about El Paso.
No comments:
Post a Comment