Free Things around El Paso

Because we have to be frugal travelers, we are always on the lookout for free attractions.  Because we knew we would be in El Paso for a while waiting on parts for the motorhome, Denisa made a very long list of things to do that wouldn't cost us a cent.  After 9 days in El Paso, we made quite a dent in that list.

One of our stops was downtown, where we must confess we had to pay for parking.  So we fed the parking meter and set out for the Civic Center, which had been turned into an over-sized bowling alley.  We came to find out that El Paso hosts the annual U.S.B.C. Open Championship.  So they bring in 62 bowling lanes, and host tournaments on a daily basis from March through July.  We were there during the week, and almost every lane was in use.  Denisa talked to one of the women at the information desk, and got a glimpse of just how big this event is for the city of El Paso.  They will have 50,000 bowlers come to El Paso from all 50 states trying to earn the top prize money of 5 million dollars.  We had been seeing 6-foot-tall neon bowling pins in businesses all over town, and now that made sense to us.

We walked up and down some of the streets, and found out that there is much work being done here.  We had hoped to see La Jacinta Plaza, but it was a mess of workers and construction today.  So it should be in great shape for future travelers.  

El Paso has many free museums, and we briefly visited two of them downtown.  We checked out the new digi-wall at the Museum of History, and then spent more time at the El Paso Museum of Art.  In most of our pre-retirement travels, we haven't taken the time to visit many art museums.  But now we have the time to meander through the masterpieces of the 1200's and the modern sculptures.  And we did just that!  This is Mark in the plaza right outside the museum.

 Denisa's favorite display was this sculpture of a woman, still wet from her ride on the tube.  It was so life-like, and the texture of the water on her skin and the tube was perfect.

We enjoyed some magnificent paintings from the masters.  We loved the details of some of the paintings.  But of course Mark's favorite painting was neither magnificent or very detailed.  The title was "Pig's Knuckles on a Pewter Plate" painted in 1630.  You can tell that he is still as sophisticated as ever.

After we saw everything downtown, we headed next to Fort Bliss.  We have seen billboards around town that say, "El Paso is Fort Bliss, and Fort Bliss is El Paso."  Once we got on base, we found this army post is as big as a city.  We headed for the museum on base.

This was a special place to visit because Denisa's Father did his Army basic training at Fort Bliss back in the 1950's.  I'm sure that things have changed a bit since he was there 60 years ago.  The museum focused on the role of the "Ironside" division, which are the tanks.  We learned about their role in the wars over the years.


From a layman's point of view, we had no idea there were so many kinds of tanks.  But from a citizen's point of view, we have many thanks for those service men and women that have spent time at Fort Bliss.


We saw a poster advertising the poppy festival at another free attraction, the Museum of Archaeology.  We were excited to see the Mexican poppies in bloom outside, and toured the museum inside. 




There were special outdoor exhibits, like a white wolf from a New Mexico shelter.  You could also try your hand at shooting a bow or launching an atlatl (which we learned was a spear throwing apparatus).  We were there during a visit of a hawk from the El Paso zoo.

 The festival was on a Saturday, and we were surprised to see the crowds there.  In fact, we had to park at the local junior college campus and got a free bus ride back to the museum grounds.  Nearby is another free museum, the Border Patrol Museum.

Of course, we would also recommend an afternoon of horse racing as another free activity.  Denisa struck up a conversation with a spectator who was a friend of one of the jockeys.  The jockeys will follow the circuit all over the country, riding in several races each racing day.  For trivia of the day, we found that jockeys change clothes for each race, as the owner of the horse will provide an outfit that matches the horse's blanket.  I guess the racing silks are one-size-fits-all, because if you are too big for the jacket you are too big to be a jockey.  We watched the races from the outside gallery, and were surprised at the number of families that were there together.  There were children of all ages enjoying the day at the races.

Another free stop we had to make was Rosa's Cantina.  Every time the guitars come out at an Engelman family gathering, someone will request a song made famous by Marty Robbins, "El Paso."    We've been humming that song ever since we got into town.

Many times we've heard the line sung, "Out in the west Texas town of El Paso, I fell in love with a Mexican girl. Night time would find me at Rosa's Cantina, music would play and Felina would whirl."  So it wasn't night time, and we never saw Felina, and the only music was coming from the juke box.  But we have experienced Rosa's Cantina.  

Actually, this wasn't a free stop since we also ate lunch there.  It wasn't the best, nor the worst Mexican food we have eaten.  The restaurant had several Marty Robbins albums on the wall.










Just in case any of you remember the last verse, "Out through the back door of Rosa's I ran, out where the horses were tied . . ." So we also took a picture of the back door.  You guessed it--no horses were tied there the day we visited.


So we have been well entertained while we have been in El Paso, and we did it without spending much money.  We went on free hikes all over the mountains that were too many to document.  We also visited the gardens at UTEP, the rose gardens, and a bike ride that were mentioned in other blog entries.  I'm guessing that we saw more sights of El Paso in our 9 days here than many locals see in 9 years.