Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Day in the Desert - Pictures

I took my Wednesday day trip south, down the Rio Grande Valley, following the Mission Trail, which contains several missions dating back to the days the Spanish claimed the region...like Tigua, Ysleta, Socorro, San Elezario (I'm missing one...it'll come to me). I stopped at the second and last of these to snap a few pictures. Molly was unimpressed...except by the half of a gordita she got from my lunch.

The Ysleta Mission


A typical sight in West Texas, cotton fields (in winter fallow), pecan orchards, and mountains in the distance (these are in Mexico).

I'm not in the city any more.

Eye-catching adobe wall. (At least it caught my eye)

Moving down Highway 20, to San Elezario, a Spanish precidio's mission.




The police station of the metropolis of Clint, TX.


I stopped for lunch at a rough looking hole-in-the-wall. This sign clinched that I needed to keep my hand on my wallet. 

I snapped this picture out the window where I was eating lunch. I think this girl may be destined for tomorrow's gorditas.


Have a great day.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Sunday Safari - Campus of UTEP


My temporary relocation to El Paso creates a very different style of safari. I hiked my alma mater. Boy...has it changed since I took my last class 30 years ago. My safaris are usually about nature. Today includes what you can find in the urban environment in the middle of the desert...but you'll see most of today's pictures are about texture. I hope you enjoy.

CONTEST: How many times does Molly show up in a picture?








UTEP, before it was Texas Western College, started out as the College of Mines.



Ever since I was student, I scratched my head that the complex which I felt had the least personality...was home of the College of Fine Arts

















UTEP overlooks the US-Mexican border. You are looking at the suburbs of Juarez, MX

The background is all Mexico

You see a lot of Border Patrol along the Rio Grande. Don't laugh...yes...that is the Rio Grande...diverted for agricultural purposes until many miles south of El Paso. If you ever visit Big Bend Park...you can see a Grand River.

A close up view of the Colonias. I love the colors.

If you aren't aware...UTEP is the home of the Miners...thus the pick axe.

Feathers fluffed in the breeze


 Have a great week. 


Thursday, January 24, 2013

This is Texas, not Afghanistan...


Give it an extra 20% humidity and it might feel like Afghanistan.

I think my face is going to flake off.


A geologist might remark, "See how the plateau rises from west to east? That shows how this tectonic plate rose on top of it's neighbor to the east. As the eastern plate plunged below the western plate, the mountain range was formed." But not being a geologist, I just say, "Man, this could be the moon, if it wasn't for the blacktop."

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Sunday Safari - Tramway - El Paso TX

My first Sunday Safari from my temporary home, here in El Paso. Very different from what you've grown accustomed to seeing in my safaris, but hope you enjoy.

Reminds me I'll have to work on my Spanish...

It's good to have a mountain to look at again. After 26 years in Florida...I've missed having something on the horizon...


Mexico lies in the background down there...

Beautiful Alzheimer center on the side of Mount Franklin...built since I lived here...

Looking over part of El Paso built up around the turn of the previous century, with Ft. Bliss in the near background. The mountains in the background is the southern tip of the range that makes up the Lincoln National Forest. 'Lincoln'...ring a bell...Billy the Kid's famous haunt...






A tram sliding up the side of the mountain...


About half-way to the tramway...looking north...

El Paso's 'famous' rock quarry in the near background...

Another shot of the valley that part of El Paso and Ft. Bliss lies in...

Neat to catch the moon during a day-time shot...



Back down the mountain...heading to my MIL's house...saw this place...right out of an earlier century...except for the Houston Texan's flag...


Have a great day.