We’ve eaten a lot of Mexican food in Texas but the very best meal we’ve had was at a little restaurant – El Patio – in Presidio (pop. App. 2000) on our way from Big Bend to El Paso. I had a fajita burrito which was basically all the fixings for chicken fajitas pre-wrapped in a single flour tortilla. Since I usually wind up taking half a fajita meal home it was perfect. Why don’t all Mexican restaurants offer such a logical menu item? Ron had a simple enchilada with beef – both items we’ve had before but these were outstandingly prepared. And inexpensive, too.
We didn’t quite make it to El Paso in a single run but wound up at a rest stop about 30 miles east for the night. When we did drive in the next day it was to the Holiday Inn right near I10. We got our laundry done and much needed showers and spent the day visiting two terrific museums, the Museum of Art and the Museum of History. Sent digital post cards from the latter and viewed an exhibit of Chicano art (donated by Cheech Marin) at the former. Although the hotel was in the business district and there were major banks and insurance companies represented there, we saw very few people on the street and almost no traffic. Lots of cars parked in lots and garages, though, so the workers were there someplace. Ron woke up the next day feeling a little under the weather so I took the camera and wandered around a bit on my own. Again, very few people walking even though it was about 9am on a work day. Every now and then there were groups of two or three with take out bags from one of the few chic lunch spots, but not many.
On Friday, after a brief stop at the El Paso Botanic Gardens, we drove north to New Mexico with no clear idea (as usual) of where we would spend the night but a few choices of state parks not too far off the interstate. Our idea of what’s not too far has changed considerably on this trip. It used to be that anything over a ten-mile round trip was out of the question. Now we’re willing to stretch that to 100 miles if the destination is appealing enough. We decided on City of Rocks SP, about 30 miles north of the highway and it was a really interesting place, with campsites scattered among pillars of lava rock up to 40 feet high, formed by a volcanic explosion millions of years ago. We took a short hike in the morning in the Chihuahuan desert and stopped at the visitors center before heading out. While there we read about the cliff dwellings in the Gila National Wilderness Area about 30 miles north and decided to make another detour.
We were warned that the road to the cliffs was steep and winding and it sure was but Ron conquered his fears and handled them like a real pro. We camped at Lower Scorpion (a really small area with a couple of tent sites and room for about 4-5 vehicles) and chatted with our fellow campers, a couple almost our age from Kentucky who were setting off for a few days of backpacking in the park, another couple with a trailer who are full timers and a man from Tennessee who was also backpacking on his own for a few days.
The next day we headed to the trail that led to the cliff dwellings and started the climb. While it wasn’t long, it was strenuous because of the altitude (almost 7000 ft. above sea level) and Ron was feeling it. He was also feeling a bit (!) of vertigo but made it all the way to the top where the path narrowed to a couple of feet wide on the edge of a cliff. The 700 year old cave dwellings were awe inspiring. It’s hard to imagine how the residents lived but the evidence shows there was once a thriving community of hunter-gatherers who also raised crops of maize and squashes there for hundreds of years. The Gila River provided water for drinking and irrigation and there was plenty of game. Like other civilizations in the deserts of the west, no one really knows why they moved on.
We would our way back down the mountain and headed for Portal, AZ, to do some serious birding.
The Ultimate Road Trip 