BELATED BLOG: Summer like an El Pasoan

The first stop on the summer crazy train called Roohi was El Paso, Texas! 

In all honesty, I was nervous spending a month with my in-laws.  I deflected a lot of this anxiety with the obvious humor behind living as a married couple in the bedroom my husband grew up in, but June really turned out to be an amazing time!

The adventure to El Paso begins when Amir left while I still had 2 weeks left in the school year.  We drove to Austin in two cars to help Amir break the trip up.  In the morning, Amir set out to El Paso (green route below) and I headed back to Houston.  Along the way, my tire blew out.  Stranded between Bastrop and Smithville on US-71, I couldn’t help but think of last summer’s tire debacle!  Luckily my roadside assistance and a Walmart were open on a Sunday afternoon!  A long, 97°F day later, Amir hit the El Paso city limit as I pulled into our apartment complex with a brand new tire!  Fast forward two weeks: I leave our extra car in Austin and fly to El Paso (pink route below).  Of course, I’m flying out of a too-small-for-its-booming-population-airport within a week of all local school districts and Universities letting out for the summer.  With over an hour wait to check bags and get through security, it was a pretty terrible idea to get to the airport an hour before my flight took off.  Luckily, Southwest Airlines is the bomb and held the plane for me and about 30 other passengers to make our way through the atrocious security situation!

Once in El Paso, I spent a lot of time, working out, reading, catching up on TV shows I had long abandoned, and spending hours of quality time with my little sister.   For someone who left Houston feeling exhausted, overworked and somewhat apathetic to a job and cause I dearly love, my down time in El Paso was exactly what I needed to recharge.



Dressed up for dinner!



Sarah fixing Amir's bow tie

Other fun El Paso destinations included my friend Desiree’s boutique, Royally Sweet (shameless advertising plug for those of you who LOVE adorable, reasonably priced girl accessories here and here).   We spent a couple of nights at Brew (local dive/sports bar) and A Little Bit of Texas (country dance bar/Ft Bliss hang out)!   Shopping and drinking aside, El Paso is also home of some fabulous eateries.  Aparte de un par de comidas muy deliciosas en la casa de Tita, Amir, Sarah, and I tried out House of Pizza and Tommy’s Pit Barbeque downtown and enjoyed a family dinner at Great American Land & Cattle up on the mountain!  For those of you who don’t know much about me, one of the assured ways to my heart is through my stomach…especially with cheese, coffee, chocolate, and carbohydrates.  All these places hit on at least one of my favorite food groups so if you’re ever in El Paso, check them out!

In terms of sightseeing, one of my all-time favorite things to do in El Paso is hike.  The Franklin Mountains are not only an amazing view from town but a mile-high workout!   Seemingly every time we visit El Paso, I put “going up the mountain” on our list of things to do; however, it typically takes a back seat to less rigorous activities.  This time, I WON OUT (mostly with my daily nagging reminders) and up the mountain we went!!   In December 2009, Amir, Farid, Sarah & I made it all the way to the top and then some.  Two months later, Amir took me to the top and proposed, so this mountain holds more sentimental value than I can explain!  We made it about half way up this time, which was just enough of a fix to hold me over until December (get ready Amir, we’re doing it)! 

Our final sight seeing adventure was a tour of the Plaza Theater.  The Plaza is a beautiful landmark in El Paso, though easily overlooked.  Our tour included the rise, fall and restoration of the Plaza throughout the last hundred years.  Did you know: the Plaza was the first public theater in the US to have air conditioning (its in El Paso, duh)? It is home to a Mighty Wurlitzer Organ?  It still featueres broadway shows?  Well, neither did I!  Its an atmospheric theater so you're supposed to feel outside when watching a play, and hopefully someday we'll be in town when something is actually being performed.  Until then, the tour was pretty good!