Tag Archive for 'Texas'

On Walkabout At: Hamachi Sushi In El Paso

Published on July 11, 2010 in Restaurants. 0 Comments Tags: El Paso, Japanese food, restaurants, sushi, Texas.

Where I live in El Paso, Texas the quality of the Japanese restaurants here is pretty poor compared to other places I have lived. So I was a bit excited to see that a new sushi restaurant opened up in the northeast which I hoped would be better than the other Japanese restaurants I have eaten at in El Paso. The restaurant is named Hamachi Sushi, which is located on north Dyer Street right before where Dyer intersects with Loop 375. When my wife and I walked into the restaurant we were impressed by El Paso standards with the interior, which was nicely decorated and most importantly clean:

The menu was typical Japanese restaurant fare though we were able to order some Korean BBQ ribs as an appetizer, which was a dead give away that this restaurant was run by Koreans:

The BBQ ribs were a bit chewy, but were actually quite good. Not the best BBQ ribs I have had, but I would definitely order them again the next time I visit. We did end up finding out that the restaurant is Korean run, which I have found in El Paso is a good thing since the Koreans tend to not modify their food to meet local tastes, which gives it a bit more authenticity. So I was eager to eat some more food and soon enough my order arrived:

The chicken teriyaki with my order was really good, the salad tasty, and the California rolls weren’t too bad, but for a restaurant with the word sushi in it, I found the sushi to be quite poor. In fact I couldn’t even finish eating it because it was so dry and was obviously not fresh and I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t left sitting out for awhile. I actually worried I would get food poisoning if I continued to eat it so I stopped.

My wife ordered a bento box with beef teriyaki, which she found to be quite tasty as well:

This place can definitely cook up some good teriyaki. My wife like me enjoyed the salad and the rest of her meal as well. As far as the service we found our waitress to be average, but not bad. Overall we left with a positive impression of the place because of the good food despite the bad sushi. It may have been a one time thing, but that was the worse sushi I have had in El Paso and trust me there is some really bad sushi in El Paso. Despite its faults my wife and I will definitely give the place a try again in the future and hopefully the sushi gets better.

On Walkabout On: El Paso’s Mission Trail

Published on July 9, 2010 in Southwest America. 0 Comments Tags: America, churches, El Paso, Mission Trail, Texas.

El Paso has a long history beginning centuries ago with the first Native-Americans that settled in the region. El Paso entered a new historical era that would forever change everything in the region when the first Spanish Conquistadors arrived in the 1500′s. The Spanish brought many things with them that the Native-Americans had never seen before such as horses that greatly changed the lives of the Natives. However, nothing impacted the lives of the Native-Americans more than the introduction of religion. Sprinkled throughout the American Southwest are the various churches and missions that the early Spanish clergy constructed in their effort to convert the native peoples to Catholicism as well as provide a place of worship for the Spanish colonists and soldiers. The greater El Paso area is home to three of the most prominent of these churches that can be explored along El Paso’s Mission Trail:

The first church along the Mission Trail is the Ysleta del Sur Mission that was built in 1680 by the clergymen Antonio de Otermin and Fray Francisco de Ayaeta. Like most of the churches constructed by the Spanish in their early conquest of the American Southwest this mission was constructed by the native Tigua Indians that were relocated to the El Paso area by the Spanish from their native pueblo at Isleta, New Mexico. The mission went through various renovations and updates over the decades, which has allowed it to be oldest continuously active parish in the state of Texas. The community of Ysleta where the church is located happens to be the oldest town in Texas, which dates back to 1682, but the city has long been overwhelmed by the growth of El Paso and feels like it is just another neighborhood in the city even though it is a completely different town. Unfortunately since this is a very active church I was not able to take any pictures of the inside of the mission since a service was going on, but it was still quite nice to see the church from the outside:

From the Ysleta Mission I then proceeded to drive to the Socorro Mission located just a few miles south from Ysleta along the banks of the Rio Grande. Due to this mission being located so close to the Rio Grande it has had to be rebuilt twice due to flooding in the 1800′s. The mission dates back to 1682 when Piro and Manso Indians moved to the region with the Spanish colonists who had been expelled from New Mexico after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 that removed all the Spanish from New Mexico. The Piro and Manso Indians lived in the Soccoro, New Mexico area and when the Spanish fled south after the revolt these tribes helped them with food and shelter. The Piro had long been friends with the Spanish from when Spanish explorer Juan de Oñate first visited the area in 1598 and was offered water and aid by the locals. That is why the area was given the name Socorro which means “help” in Spanish. Some of the members of these tribes left with the Spanish after aiding them once again because they feared retaliation by other Pueblo tribes and the Apaches. This ended up being a wise decision because the Piro and Manso that remained in Socorro were wiped out. The Piro and Manso refugees first met for church services in a hut in their new home along the Rio Grande until they completed construction of the Socorro Mission in 1691 that was named after their home land:

There was no services going on when I visited the Socorro Mission I was able to take a peak in side and admire the beautiful wood beams carved by the Piro Indians when they constructed the church:

The statue on the left side of the altar is the famous statue of St. Michael. Legend has it that the statue was being transported from Mexico City to Santa Fe in 1845 when the oxcart that was used to move the statue got stuck in mud near the Socorro Mission. Parishioners at the mission believed that this was a sign that the statue wanted Socorro to be its home and the statue has remained at the Socorro Mission ever since:

From the Socorro Mission I then drove 6 miles further south to see the third church along the Mission Trail, the San Elizario Mission. Along the way to the mission I was amazed to see that such a water intensive crop like cotton was being grown in the middle of such an arid desert, but apparently the Rio Grande provides enough water to make this a profitable crop for the local farmers:

Anyway the San Elizario Mission was first constructed in 1789 as a Spanish military fort with a chapel inside. After Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821 the fort was abandoned and the structure fell into disrepair. The present day San Elizario Mission was constructed in 1887 on the ruins of the original chapel:

The mission was all locked up when I visited so I wasn’t able to get any pictures of the inside of this church either, but from the outside it is a nice looking historic building that anchors the pleasant plaza in the middle of San Elizario. Besides these missions there are also other historic missions located across the river in the Ciudad, Juarez region of Mexico that you will not see me visiting any time soon since I value my life. For those that haven’t been following the news Ciudad Juarez is currently in the middle of a brutal and deadly drug war that has made travel to the very dangerous. Fortunately no one has to travel to Juarez to see historic Spanish missions when El Paso’s Mission Trail provides three great churches for those interested in Spanish history and historical architecture to admire.

On Walkabout At: Concordia Cemetery In El Paso, Texas

Published on July 5, 2010 in Southwest America. 2 Comments Tags: America, cemeteries, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, John Wesley Hardin, Texas.

The West Texas town of El Paso has a long and colorful history that began when the first Spanish Conquistadors established a colony here on the Rio Grande River. From these early beginnings El Paso would go on from being a Spanish colony, to becoming a Mexican city, and than finally the major American city that it is today. Over the centuries many people were responsible for the development of the city of El Paso into what it is today and the memory of these El Pasoans lives on at the historic Concordia Cemetery located in the center of El Paso:

According to the below marker, the current location of the cemetery became known as Concordia during the 1840s’s when this area was the home of Chihuahua trader Hugh Stephenson. In 1856 his wife, Juana (Ascarate), was buried in what is now part of Concordia Cemetery:

Picture from El Paso's Concordia Cemetery

From then on the graveyard gained widespread use in the 1880s when El Pasoans drove three miles to Concordia to bury their dead. It is amazing to think that this cemetery was once on the outskirts when today it has been totally surrounded by dense urban sprawl to include being surrounded on two sides by the highway intersection in the center of El Paso known as the “Spaghetti Bowl”:

Here is a view from the cemetery with the Spaghetti Bowl as a backdrop:

Besides being backdropped by the busy highway turnpike, the cemetery has much nicer natural backdrop on its west and north sides with the Franklin Mountains:

Getting back to the history lesson, by 1890 various sections of Concordia Cemetery had been purchased by different groups and were designated Catholic, Masonic, Jewish, Black, Chinese, Military, Jesuit, city, and county.

These various sections in the cemetery remain to this day with the newest section being where the Buffalo Soldiers of Old West fame were relocated:

According to the plaque at the memorial site, in 1866 one year after the end of the Civil War and more than 18 months after the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery was enacted, Congress had the need to reorganize the peace time regular Army. Recognizing the military merits of black soldiers, four black Infantry Regiments and two Segregated Regiments of black Cavalry were authorized. The 9th and 10th US Cavalry were destined to become the most decorated of all US Military Regiments.

It is believed that the nickname Buffalo Soldiers began with Cheyenne warriors in 1867. Out of respect the Cheyenne referred to the hard fighting blacks as Buffalo Soldiers because their hair resembled that of the revered Bison. Here is a close up of one of the graves:

This new memorial section is actually really nice and well done. What I did find odd though was that I have never seen sponsorship advertisements on headstones before, but I guess they had to pay for this memorial some how:

If you are wondering there are plenty of other veterans buried at the cemetery as well:

Another section of the cemetery located to the north of the new Buffalo Soldier Memorial is where the French family is buried:

Captain A.H. French married into the Hugh Stephenson family that originally owned this property and is buried here with his family to include Hugh Stephenson’s wife Juana Ascarate. Located to the south of the Buffalo Soldier Memorial is the are reserved for members of the Masonic Lodge:

This section for the Mason’s was quite large:

They even had a large obelisk to designate their corner of this large cemetery:

Most of the graves had a Masonic symbol on it such as this grave below of Charles Dyer who I wondered was the same person that the infamous Dyer street in El Paso is named after:

However, some of the graves did not have any symbols such as this section of graves for the Biggs family:

The grave for Lieutenant James Biggs is the person that Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso is named after. Lt. Biggs died in combat during World War I and his body was moved from Europe to where it rest today with the rest of his family at Concordia Cemetery. I also saw in the Mason’s section someone that was buried recently and his grave had no Masonic symbols for some reason:

Someone else also buried in this section of the cemetery is Captain James H. White:

He came to El Paso in 1869 after serving in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. In the 1870′s White served in both the Mexican and American armies before getting a job as a US Marshal in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He would later go on to become both the Sheriff and then a tax collector for the city of El Paso. He was a Mason, Shriner, and a Knight of Templar before passing away in 1907.

At the corner entrance into the Masonic section of the cemetery is this tomb:

According to the Concordia Cemetery map I had this tomb was once used as the resting place for the deceased Mexican President Huerta Victoriano.

Huerta had ceased the Mexican Presidency in a coup in 1913. He was later implicated in the German attempt to form a military alliance with Mexico in order for the Mexicans to attack the United States during World War I. He was later exiled in 1915 and worked his way from Europe and then to the United States as he plotted to return to power. He was arrested just up the road from where I live, in Newman, New Mexico by American authorities for violating the US’s neutrality laws. He was imprisoned at Ft. Bliss in El Paso. He would later die in jail and was buried in Concordia Cemetery.

Easily the most famous person buried in Concordia is John Wesley Hardin:

Hardin was an outlaw that spent 15 years in prison for murder before being pardoned for his crimes in 1893. Hardin claimed to have killed 30 people before being imprisoned at the Huntsville, Texas prison. During his time in prison Hardin studied law and a few months after his release he passed the Texas state bar exam.

John Wesley Hardin

The outlaw and excon had now officially become a qualified lawyer. He then moved to El Paso to practice law and while gambling at a local bar Hardin was shot in the back of the head by 56-year-old constable, John Selman, Sr. who shot him after Hardin earlier that day had a verbal dispute with his son. It is an incredibly inglorious way for such a deadly gunfighter to go out.

From Hardin’s grave I next walked over to the Chinese section of the cemetery:

The Chinese community was first established in El Paso when 300 Chinese laborers came to the city to work on the construction of the railroads in the area in the late 1800′s. Some stayed and became permanent fixtures in the community. When they passed away they were buried in their own part of the cemetery:

I have seen plenty of Chinese cemeteries before in various areas around the world, but I have never seen one with grave coverings like these:

Here is a close up of the grave coverings, has anyone seen Chinese grave coverings like these before:

By the way here is an example of how Chinese immigrants in Australia were buried.

Here is an El Paso ethnic Chinese that passed away a few years ago who was also a military veteran:

Here was a marker located in the middle of the cemetery:

Here is something that I see in every Chinese cemetery, which is a burning tower:

Something strange about the Chinese portion of the cemetery is that they have been given a huge chunk of land to bury their dead, but there is hardly anyone buried here:

In the above picture in the top right you can see where the earlier pictured grave coverings are located. On this opposite end of the cemetery is a few more grave coverings, but most of the tombstones are of the variety pictured above. After checking out the Chinese Cemetery I decided to call it a day because it was 106 degrees out and I had been walking around in the cemetery for an hour and a half. There was still more sections of the cemetery to see such as the Jewish area, but I was spent from the relentless sun beating down on me. So I will just have to make another visit to this cemetery some time.

Anyway on the way out I happened to notice this gravestone of Olaf Cornelius Ellison who came to be buried here in El Paso after being born all the way in Norway:

However, he ended up all the way out here I’m sure is an interesting life story. Also on my way to the exit I also noticed this sign that provided some various facts about the cemetery:

Finally if you are wondering what the hours are for the cemetery here they are posted on the entrance gate:

The easiest way I found to reach the cemetery is by exiting US 54 on to Montana Street. Follow Montana to the west and then take a left on Houston followed by a right on Yandell Drive. Yandell runs parallel to the cemetery, so just follow it until you see the cemetery entrance on the left. The cemetery is actually pretty easy to find even for people visiting from out of town. The cemetery does have security guards for anyone worried about their safety while visiting because it is located in a somewhat run down neighborhood. The biggest thing I warn people of is what I mentioned earlier, the heat because there is little shade and no water available unless visitors bring their own. Another concern are the rattlesnakes that are known to live in the cemetery. It is best to keep an eye out for them when visiting, but likely visitors will not see any.

So for anyone deciding to visit Concordia Cemetery just keep these few tips in mind and their shouldn’t be any issues while visiting this historic cemetery.

On Walkabout At: El Paso’s National Border Patrol Museum

Published on April 15, 2010 in Southwest America. 1 Comment Tags: America, Border Patrol, El Paso, Texas.

A really interesting place that most people in El Paso have never visited is the National Border Patrol Museum located just off of Transmountain Road on the northeast side of El Paso, Texas. Here is the American and US Border Patrol flags flying in front of the museum:

The museum is actually of decent size and proved to be much more interesting than I expected. I really didn’t know much about the history or structure of the Border Patrol until I visited this museum. As this map shows the Border Patrol is broken down into various districts with the border with Mexico obviously being where most of the Border Patrol’s districts are located:

Besides informing visitors about the structure of the Border Patrol, the museum also has a number of exhibits with the uniforms, equipment, photographs, guns, and documents that depict the history of the Border Patrol:

Besides recognizing the history of the Border Patrol agents the museum also recognizes the history of its animals that assist the agents, most notably their dogs that have long been used to smell for drugs being smuggled into the country:

The museum has got another display depicting the Border Patrol’s long history with horses:

Until the Border Patrol became motorized the entire border was at one time patrolled entirely by horseback. It is hard enough today to monitor the border with all the vehicles, aircraft, radar, motion detectors, etc.; it had to be impossible to monitor the entire border by horseback a hundred years ago.

However, more interesting than the Border Patrol history though was the exhibits that depict all the items used by drug smugglers and illegal immigrants such as these shoes that are used to throw off the Border Patrol by looking like cow hoof prints:

Here is an example of a large river smuggling boat:

This plaque describing this smuggling boat said the boat was made with automobile hoods and was used to move people across the Rio Grande River for $500 a person:

Pretty amazing the profits the smugglers must have been making with this primitive boat. There was also a number of displays showing the various weapons the illegal immigrants and smugglers were found to have on their person:

The vast majority of the weapons confiscated from people caught illegally crossing the border are actually used for personal protection during their often dangerous journey across the border and not to assault Border Patrol agents with:

The final exhibit we checked out was an area that had various vehicles used over the years by the Border Patrol:

The final place my wife and I did before concluding our tour of the Border Patrol Museum was to pay our respects at the wall of honor:

I had no idea that so many Border Patrol officers had lost their lives in serving the nation. Reading through the various narratives, these Border Patrol officers lost their lives stopping alcohol smugglers all the way back to the Prohibition Period to combating the drug smugglers that plague the US borders today:

This wall is quite humbling and really brings to home what a dangerous job the Border Patrol does every day being the first line of defense securing America’s borders.

The Museum is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 9am to 5pm and best of all there is no admission fee. The museum is located at 4315 Trans Mountain Rd., just west of highway 54 to Alamogordo. It makes for a great morning or afternoon out when combined with a visit to the next door Museum of Archaeology and Wilderness Park.

On Walkabout At: El Paso’s Wilderness Park & Museum of Archaeology

Published on April 10, 2010 in Southwest America. 3 Comments Tags: America, El Paso, Texas.

A place of interest in El Paso that many locals have not visited and drive right past is the Wilderness Park & Museum of Archaeology located right off of Transmountain Road on the northeast of El Paso, Texas:

The museum is located in a big brown building surrounded by desert plant life:

The museum teaches visitors the history of El Paso’s earlier inhabitants. One of the ways the museum teaches this early history is with dioramas:

The first inhabitants in the El Paso area were known as the Paleo-Indians who made a life for themselves in an El Paso environment very different from what people in El Paso see today. During the Ice Age period of 12,000 – 8,000 B.C. these early inhabitants lived in lush green and forested environment along the Rio Grande River and Franklin Mountains where they hunted such exotic wildlife as the mammoth pictured above.

There has actually been evidence found that people may have inhabited the El Paso area as much as 50,000 years ago as well. Archaeologists excavating the Rough Canyon Cave in the Hueco Mountains to the east of El Paso believe they have found bone and stone tool evidence that proves that man may have migrated to the Americas much earlier than believed:

Here is some of the bone evidence of mammoths and other Ice Age era animals that was found in the cave:

However as the Ice Age ended and the world began to warm over the centuries the environment around El Paso would change and the inhabitants in the area had to change with it. This led to the development of the Pueblo culture in the El Paso region. This culture built large adobe settlements around 1200-1450 AD:

The Pueblo settlements in the El Paso area would not last long as other settlements in the region likely because of drought:

A culture that still is alive today in the El Paso region is that of the Mescalero Apache. The Mescalero used to travel through the region from their mountain home lands in the Sacramento Mountains. The most obvious evidence of their presence in the area is at Hueco Tanks, which was used as a watering hole in the parched desert. While resting at this water hole the Mescalero left much their famous rock art here that continues to draw visitors to Hueco Tanks to this day. Inside the museum it offers a number of displays about the Mescalero Apache to include this one about the Mountain Spirit Dancers:

The Mescalero Apache are the descendants of early Native-Americans that migrated to the El Paso region 1000 – 500 years ago:

The museum has plenty more displays of artifacts left by the early inhabitants of the El Paso region to include of course arrowheads:

Here is an example of sandals made using native yucca plants by the Jornada Mogollon culture that inhabited the area around 300 – 1000 AD:

Here is an example of some of the pottery used by Native Americans in the greater El Paso region:

Here are examples of baskets used by the Mescalero Apaches in the early 1900′s:

There is plenty more worth checking inside the museum, but when finished it is well worth taking a walk around the Wilderness Park that surrounds the museum where visitors can learn about all the native plants that inhabit the desert wilderness around El Paso:

Since this is the desert there is plenty of signs warning visitors of the various snakes that call the desert home:

There are approximately 250 plants that inhabit the Wilderness Park’s 16 acres:

All these plants can be found in the deserts around El Paso, however the plants in the park are just much bigger than the ones I see in the desert:

The below photograph from the Wilderness Park shows the view looking towards the northeast side of El Paso and if you look out in the distance you can see the Hueco Mountains:

Looking towards the west the foothills of North Franklin Mountain:

To the northwest I could see the northern end of the Franklin Mountains to include Anthony’s Nose:

Here are the opening hours for the Wilderness Park and the Museum of Archaeology:

Tuesday-Saturday	-	9:00 AM — 5:00 PM
Sunday	-	12:00 PM — 5:00 PM
Monday	-	-Closed-

Also closed on the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

Best of all is that the admission to the museum is free. Visiting the museum, Wilderness Park, and the next door National Border Patrol Museum makes for a great afternoon out.

On Walkabout At: El Paso’s McKelligon Canyon

Published on April 3, 2010 in Southwest America. 2 Comments Tags: El Paso, Franklin Mountains, McKelligon Canyon, Texas.

Quite possibly the most visited location in the Franklin Mountains State Park located in El Paso, Texas is the scenic McKelligon Canyon:

The turn off to the canyon is located right in front of the William Beaumont Army Medical Center which is probably the most recognizable building in El Paso. The twisting road that leads up the canyon is a popular route for joggers and I occasionally jog up the road myself in the morning. At the end of this road is a picnic area where a number of hiking trails into the surrounding mountains begin. Many of the trails lead up to a variety of caves that litter the sides of the Franklin Mountains:

I headed up a trail leading to one of these caves:

The trail was steep in some areas and all around I was surrounded by lush Chihuahuan Desert scenery:

Along the way up the mountain there was plenty of nice rocky mountain scenery to enjoy as well:

The trail became steeper and steeper as I got closer to the cave:

Something that really annoyed me as I hiked up the mountain was the graffiti that various people have littered the mountain side with over the years:

Anyway I was just about to reach the cave:

As I approached the cave I could see that it to was covered in graffiti:

The entire inside of the cave was covered in graffiti as well:

I just don’t get why the first instinct someone would have after hiking up here would be to pull out a can of spray paint? Anyway the view looking down into McKelligon Canyon was tremendous from the cave:

After spending only a few minutes at the cave I then next proceeded to head up to the ridgeline of the Franklin Mountains above the cave. The trail became much steeper now and the wind was getting pretty bad at this point:

The wind during the spring time is notorious in El Paso and so I was getting a pretty good taste of it once I reached the top of the ridgeline that offered views over to the west side of El Paso:

Here was the view looking towards the northwest where the green farms and ranches along the Rio Grande River can be seen:

Here is the view from the ridgeline looking back down to McKelligon Canyon:

Here is the view looking towards the 6,791 feet (2,069 meters) South Franklin Mountain:

As I looked towards South Franklin Mountain I noticed these two hikers standing at the top of on the slopes of the mountain:

From the ridgeline I also saw a rock outcropping with something posted at the end of the rock:

So I decided to walk out to the end of the rock formation and saw this Mexican flag posted at the end of the rock:

From the rock formation I also was able to get a great view of some of the posh homes that can be found on El Paso’s west side:

Here are a few of the nice homes that can be found at the base of the mountains:

I thought this home was particularly nice:

Here is the view looking towards the northwest of El Paso:

Here is the view far to the west and of the Potrillo Mountains that lie in the remote southern New Mexico desert wilderness:

Here is the view of Mt. Cristo Del Rey:

Mt. Cristo Del Rey is one of America’s most dangerous tourist attractions because the Cross that is built on the mountain is located at the point where New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico all share a common border. Due to this bandits from Juarez regularly cross over and assault hikers that are climbing the mountain to visit the shrine. Thus authorities advise potential walkers to only climb the mountain in a large group in order to fight off potential attackers. Sounds like a lot of fun, huh? Needless to say I have no plans to hike up that hill.

Here is a look at the Rio Grande River which by the time it passes through El Paso it has little water left in it:

After I finished checking out the view I walked back to the ridgeline from the rock outcropping and continued to walk along it and enjoying the views:

I eventually had enough of the wind on top of the ridgeline and then proceeded back down the mountain to the McKelligon Canyon picnic area:

As I headed down the mountain I had a nice view once again of South Franklin Mountain that loomed in front of me:

Here is the view looking back towards the ridgeline of the Franklin Mountains that I traversed during this hike:

McKelligon Canyon is very popular with locals, but it is also nice place for people visiting the city to have lunch and take a quick hike into the mountains if looking for something to take up an afternoon while visiting the city. The gate is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily for those interested in visiting the canyon. During the summer the canyon is also the location of the Viva El Paso show that is well worth checking out as well.