El Paso Anyone???

After too many long international trips both for business and for pleasure, I'm thinking it's time to see more of the US. My girlfriend (fiancee) and I have decided to go somewhere warm for the winter.

We've done Sarisota FL and S. California but were thinking somewhere in the SW. Obvious tourist sites like Phoenix & Scottsdale AZ, and Sant Fe NM come to mind but I was thiking a bit more off the beaten path.

El Paso sounds fun and it's just over the river to Juarez Mexico for that diversion. Anyone here familar with that part of the country? Will we have fun for 4-5 days or should we consider other locales? Hawaii would be fun but from Ohio I might was well be flying back to Europe.

Oh I guess I should have given more detail about expectations etc. While we aren't hardcore caver/climber type we do like outdoor stuff. Oddly our best time in Vegas was not even one of the few mini jackpots we hit; it was the "Pink Jeep" 1/2 day tour we took out into the surrounding wilderness/park areas. All it takes for us to be happy is a good mix of outdoor sites/scenes, some good food (or just different then what we get here in the midwest), and maybe some decent art/culture stuff.

You absolutelty do NOT want to go to Juarez. I used to go occasionally, but it is now one of the most dangerous places in the world. I don't think they've had a police chief in some years now that lasted more than a couple of weeks before assassination.

My brother in law last went 3 or 4 years ago. He was sitting eating lunch in an open cafe with a couple of friends. They were next to the sidewalk and they saw a man walking down the sidewalk coming their direction. Suddenly several guys came out of an alley on the other side of the street, ran him down and beat him with clubs. This all happened less than 20 feet from where they were sitting. He said it all happened so fast they didn't know what was going on at first. No one made a move to help because one of the guys stood in the middle of the street with a rifle and stood guard for the ones doing the beating. He said the beating went on a couple of minutes. As soon as it was over, they left for the border as fast as possible. He didn't know for sure, but said he didn't think the guy could have possibly lived, they beat him so bad his head was unrecognizable as a head, and he said he's never seen so much blood in his life.

Sorry to be so graphic, but that's not a place to go anymore.

*Doh!!!* Sorry, been to Juarez many times, but was actually thinking of Nuevo Loredo (been there many times also) when I wrote reply. Not really sure how bad the drug gangs have gotten in Juarez.

LOL thanks. I was going to say I've hear that Juarez was actually doing well because they wanted to keep the town safe since so much of the income there is from American tourists and those going over for cheap prescriptions.

In any case I've been to some places in South America with rough edges and if you lay low there's no problems although that was on business and laying low while on a pleasure trip kind of defeats the purpose.

I'm less adventurous and less traveled than you, bitslammer.

El Paso is a city I would want to drive through but not stay. I have no interest in visiting Mexico. Italy, Iceland, Switzerland, Germany, England, Ireland, Australia, Virgin Islands, Cuba, Canada, Africa, Russia and the Galapagos Islands yes. Mexico no. IIRC near the top of the pass is a border stop. Makes no sense because you're not crossing the border but it's there. Very windy on the mountain.

I was born in San Antonio, Texas. That's an interesting city.

May I suggest Corpus Christy, Texas for a southwest winter retreat? It's been many years since my last visit but I liked it. Plenty to do and see. Good restaurants. It's a quick trip to Mustang Island from Corpus. Cannibals lived on Mustang Island into the 1800s. Wild horses or "Mustangs" were brought to the island by the Spaniards.

The sand is white. It is one of the few places I know of where you can do some primitive camping on a nice beach and be able to find civilization PDQ. It may ice storm here Monday. I would like to leave for Mustang Island tonight.

Corpus Christy

Mustang Island

Mustang Island History

Thanks! I did 6 months of my medical training at Ft. Sam Houston TX. I too love San Antonio. I never made CC but it sounds worth getting a free brochure from.

I visited El Paso when Jimmy Carter was running for President. I quite liked what I saw during my brief visit. I even made a sojourn over to Juarez and man... it's like night and day. I was certainly glad when I drove back over the border.

What I do remember best, though, was the visit I made to Carlsbad Caverns, about 100 miles to the north. It's about a 3 1/2 mile walk through the caverns and interesting as heck. Recommended.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlsbad_Caverns

Icebreak said:

I'm less adventurous and less traveled than you, bitslammer.

El Paso is a city I would want to drive through but not stay. I have no interest in visiting Mexico. Italy, Iceland, Switzerland, Germany, England, Ireland, Australia, Virgin Islands, Cuba, Canada, Africa, Russia and the Galapagos Islands yes. Mexico no. IIRC near the top of the pass is a border stop. Makes no sense because you're not crossing the border but it's there. Very windy on the mountain.

I was born in San Antonio, Texas. That's an interesting city.

May I suggest Corpus Christy, Texas for a southwest winter retreat? It's been many years since my last visit but I liked it. Plenty to do and see. Good restaurants. It's a quick trip to Mustang Island from Corpus. Cannibals lived on Mustang Island into the 1800s. Wild horses or "Mustangs" were brought to the island by the Spaniards.

The sand is white. It is one of the few places I know of where you can do some primitive camping on a nice beach and be able to find civilization PDQ. It may ice storm here Monday. I would like to leave for Mustang Island tonight.

Corpus Christy

Mustang Island

Mustang Island History

Click to expand...

The Galapagos Islands are quite exquisite. My friend George took a trip there and he spent time living (swimming) with the turtles. He was a marine biologist and previously a hand model.

My grandparents use to live in El Paso. There stuff to do there but i wouldnt go just to go. If you do go there is some really good hiking though. Me and my brother went to the peak of the highest mountain, cant remeber what it was called though. A little difficult but not too bad.

Franklin Mountains has hiking, biking, and rock climbing.