We enjoyed our first visit to the city of El Paso, the Gateway to Juarez., and will surely return someday. We actually left a few days ago and drove about 130 miles to spend one night at the Desert Willow RV Park in Van Horn, Texas. It is the westernmost town in the U.S. Central Time Zone so it was time to change the clocks.
Since every town, no matter how small or remote, has a story we headed into town and discovered the recently renovated historic hotel called the Hotel El Capitan which was built in the 1930's and designed by famed architect Henry Trost. What a cool place it was with its southwestern decor and charm. It is a hotel I would love to stay at (if we didn’t have a RV). We walked around the small town and took in the rest of the sights. Van Horn has seen better days but we had a good time there. The elderly lady who manages the park was a hoot and recommended Papa's Pantry for lunch. I had a red chili smothered ground beef burrito whereas Sharon had shredded beef and grilled chili, onion and tomato burrito. Sharon's was better once again (sigh). Other than a cranky waitress at the restaurant, the townspeople were very friendly and welcoming so we see no reason to pass it by next time we are driving through on Interstate 10.
Our next stop was about 160 miles east where we pulled into a pull thru site (number 5) at Monahans State Park, a place we have been to before but simply had to revisit. The weather was about to become stormy and wet so we booked two days to let it all pass through. Our first day at the park the weather was perfect and we thankfully were able to do a lot of hiking in the dunes. The trek over the dunes was lots of work but well worth the effort for the amazing vistas… Friday the rains came along with some thunder and lightening so we were only able to do short excursions between rain events. This morning it is still raining (with more to come) so we will extend our stay another day before moving on to San Angelo, Texas.
We feel the beauty of this place, come rain or shine, is a perfect place to wait for the weather to clear… I will let the photos speak for themselves…
Your post caught my eye because we're in Van Horn right now sitting waiting for the rain to let up before heading to Big Bend. We've never been to Monahans State Park and it looks nice. Have fun and thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteBe sure to top off your fuel tank before leaving Van Horn. It is a long way to the next gas station if you are heading south.
DeleteThanks for the preview. We will spend a few days at Monahans State Park in April on our way to NM.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous! Looking forward to staying there soon!
ReplyDeleteMy only connection with Monahans is being a fan of Guy Clark, who described it as "halfway between Pecos and nowhere" in "Texas, 1947" from his album "Keepers". It's about the first streamlined diesel train to come through Monahans. If you can find a way to hear it, it's a good one as is the whole album.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice place to explore the dunes have fun and relax while the trains past by.
ReplyDeleteHi, Nice photo's, and love your wife's smile!
ReplyDeleteMan....those are some great photos!
ReplyDeleteCool photos of the dunes, the waves of sand, the contrast, lighting....great job!
ReplyDeleteAwesome photos. I love the ones of Sharon having fun in the sand. Cute, cute, cute.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you guys had a blast in the sand! We are almost home to Wisconsin.. now about 20 miles from the house. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteKarenInTheWoods and Steveio
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(Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
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The doons are beautiful, but how I hate walking in sand.
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