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Something About El Paso Sunday, May 14, 2006 | 11:50PM

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I’d never been to El Paso before this weekend, nor had I had any intention of going. While I was born in Odessa, there was never a need to drive much further West than, say New Mexico, where there was occasionally snow. And when we moved to Orange, El Paso only ever entered my mind when I saw the mileage sign upon entering Texas from Louisiana: nearly 900 miles away.

But on Friday afternoon, I spent less than two hours in the air and ended up in a place I was actually impressed by. Now bear with me; I’m not saying I’d ever want to live there. But the proximity to Mexico (and New Mexico, I suppose) and the mountains (did you know that?) gave the whole place this atmosphere I’ve never seen before. There was an abundance of old signage all over the place, with obvious hints of modernity every once in awhile. A Hummer dealership was one of the first things we saw upon leaving the airport, for instance. And cars from all over the country were there. I found that odd at first, until it was pointed out to me that there was a very large military base located just North of the airport.

I was in El Paso to shoot a graduation ceremony for the photography company I work for seasonally. I met a guy named Dave, whom they had flown in from out of town as well, and we sought out our hotel. We got off I-10 a little early, and ended up going through town instead of beside it, so we saw the commercial aspects of the city. We thought it was pretty funny that there was a need for 3 Taco Bells within 10 miles of one another in a city on the border of Mexico, but I guess there’s a market for awful faux-Mexican.

It was interesting to see writing on the mountains on the Juarez side of the border. The large words were formed with (I guess) white stones. But you could see them from many miles away, so I can’t imagine what the message would be. I really wanted to head over there, but I was advised against it. Plus, we really didn’t have the time to go anywhere except at night, and that was probably the worst time to go.

We did, however, eat at what was claimed to be a fairly authentic Mexican restaurant. I wanted to see how much “Mexican” food I eat is really Tex-Mex. And apparently, “queso” or “chile con queso” as we know it, isn’t all that common. It might’ve just been my experience, but that’s the second time recently that I’ve been to a Mexican restaurant that was definitely not Tex-Mex and gotten a blank stare from the waiter upon asking if they had it. We did get Rajas con Queso, though, and it was pretty good. And I also had tacos with these little flour tortillas instead of hard corn shells. The beef was pretty spicy, and though the meal appeared to be small, it really filled me up. Sorry, I know you don’t care about what I ate.

I tried to get my flight out changed to a later time, but it would’ve cost me another $70, and a new car rental would’ve been $30, so I just took my 8:30am flight back to Austin. The cool part was that I had to go to Dallas Love Field first, and the flight down to Austin went almost entirely along the I-35 corridor. I saw Baylor in Waco, the place where I work, my grandmother’s house, and downtown Austin. I really love flying if I get a window seat.

So if anyone has a job opening that would require I fly all over the country and shoot photos for someone, just let me know. I’d be up for the challenge.

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Comments

Casey | Wednesday, May 17, 2006 | 9:34AM

Walker | Wednesday, May 17, 2006 | 5:15PM

Justin | Friday, May 26, 2006 | 12:16AM

Walker | Tuesday, May 30, 2006 | 11:33PM

Justin | Wednesday, May 31, 2006 | 11:34AM

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