The first Saturday in November was a bit overcast and misty and we wanted to get out of the RV Park. After looking online, we decided to drive to downtown El Paso and check out some of the sites.
Our first stop was Union Plaza.
An artist and farmer’s market is held at Union Plaza on Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm. Unfortunately, we arrived as it was closing up and the merchants were packing their wares. We wandered through the market area, then continued towards Downtown.
The streets weren’t very crowded and we wondered if the misty weather was keeping people indoors. Walking up San Antonio Ave., we saw the Railroad Transportation Museum. The El Paso Visitor’s Center was located in the lobby. Perfect! Now I could grab a map!
The friendly young woman working at the desk gave us a map of downtown and pointed out a few places to check out. She also told us the Museum of History and the Museum of Art have free admittance.
After looking around a bit, we thanked her and went on our way.
As we continued east along San Antonio Ave, we passed from the Union Plaza section of downtown into the arts district, Las Plazas. We walked up the stairs of the Judson Williams Convention Center and into the Convention Plaza where the annual Christmas Fair was in progress.
People were going in and out of the center and we stepped inside to take a peek. It looked like a fun time for a worthy cause. However, we were not prepared to shop, so we continued on our walk.
Around the corner, we found wonderful murals, some sculptures, and great architecture.
Leaving the convention plaza, we walked up Santa Fe St. to Cleveland Square Park, where a dog costume contest was wrapping up.
That is when we saw the 3D digital wall at the El Paso Museum of History. We had fun playing with it for a while and made a digital postcard that we shared with some family and friends.
From there, we took the walkway between the park and the Library. Along the way there were colorful flower beds and trees with green bark. Since we had not seen a tree with green back before, we did a quick search and discovered they are Palo Verde, or Desert Museum trees.
Andy took a few more pictures of sculptures here.
We soon found ourselves on the corner of El Paso and Missouri. Being from Missouri, we had to take a picture.
We walked west on Missouri towards Calvary Man Park. In addition to the statue, there is a gazebo with interesting solar panels for the roof.
The park is on the corner of Missouri Ave and Santa Fe. Across the street is the El Paso Scottish Rite Temple.
We continued down Missouri along the north side of Southwest University Park, home of the Chihuahuas, El Paso’s Triple A baseball team. At the corner of Missouri and Durango, we saw some interesting apartment buildings.
We turned southwest and took Durango along the west side of the park.At the Durango entrance to the ballpark, the sidewalk becomes a wide pedestrian walkway, where you can rent a bike or just enjoy the mural as you stroll down the hill towards San Antonio Ave.
As we neared the parking lot, we saw the Rocketbuster building, home of handmade custom boots. Unfortunately, they were closed so we didn’t get to see any of the colorful boots.We wanted to explore further into the Union Plaza and Las Plazas districts, but our time on the parking meter was ending and our dogs were waiting for us back at the RV. We plan to go downtown again while we are in El Paso and see the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit at the Museum of Art.
We arrived back at the RV park in time to enjoy hamburgers and hot dogs at the annual Chili Cook-off. We also enjoyed samples of the contestant’s chili and visited with our neighbors. It was a great way to end the afternoon.
Looking for a hiking trail in El Paso? Check out our visit to the Rio Bosque Wetlands.
Peggy Staver, the author of this blog, is a freelance copywriter specializing in outdoor recreation and hospitality. You can contact her at PSCopywriting.com. The majority of photos are taken by Photography by Andreas. Visit his portfolio here.
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