I left San Antonio at 6:30 a.m. It was still dark, and I was on a state highway until I reached I-10 in Boerne. While I cruised along dealing with my depth perception issues and a dark, freshly resurfaced highway, assertive pickups followed closely (read: rode my ass). And on this dark highway, there was the only wildlife casualty in 7,000 miles - I hit either an armadillo or a possum. Whatever it was, I now understand the term "mosey" , because whatever the creature, it was not moving fast. Probably worn out from a long night doing whatever possums or armadillos do. I haven't run over very many members of the wild kingdom in my lifetime, and whenever I do, I feel sick to my stomach knowing that I directly caused the death of another being. The thud was followed by, "oh, nonononononono...!" And, "oh, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry ..." I don't know who I was apologizing to, but I was truly so sorry. Not an auspicious beginning.
I-10 winds through hill country for awhile, and the drive was serene. Even the 18-wheelers seemed nicer.
Somewhere around Ft. Stockton, the hill country became desert. I was there for the transition, in my car, driving, looking. OK, maybe gapping out a little bit. But the actual moment snuck by me until there I was, looking at wind chargers in the desert, much like what's just north of Palm Springs on I-10. This great swath of the country from Montana all the way down to the border and even into the Southwest is one big wind tunnel.
It's not a short drive between San Antonio and El Paso; it's about 550 miles, eight hours. So it still took me until 2 p.m. to reach the city, and then I had to find my sister's place. Here is where technology failed me - my iphone map app. I drove easily ten miles out my way through the city. Why does this thing ignore shorter routes? Why does it always stick to major highways? Why can't I re-program it or choose my route? It was 3 p.m. by the time I got to the house. An extra hour finding my way through the city. It was not a simpler route. Apple - are you listening?
I consoled myself with the knowledge that my sister and her husband and I were going to dinner at a little restaurant called Ripe. Back in April we all ate there before the Nora Jones concert, and I had requested a return. Ripe is a funky little bistro set in a strip mall (everything is in a strip mall now, it seems). The main reason I wanted to return was for the sweet potato fries. And I'm not a huge fan of sweet potato fries, but these are done crispy and served with cilantro ranch dressing for dipping. Not a big ranch dressing fan, either, but this - this is not your typical ranch. The soy ginger calamari is also terrific, and I had the shrimp taco appetizer as an entree. Last time I was there, it was the barbecue salmon sandwich, which can feed a family of four. Visiting my sister in EP is always enjoyable, not only because she's cool and her husband is cool, but because there's usually some sort of food dysfunction that happens. In April, there was the brownie and ice cream dinner. This time, it was sweet potato fries at Ripe. I couldn't manage to scam a photograph from their website, but if you're heading to EP and want a fabulous meal, check out their site: www.eatripe.com.
I'm not good with food guilt, so the next day we went hiking at Mundys Gap. It's a nice out-and-back trail that runs about 3.5 miles and takes a couple hours to complete. Elevation gain is about 1300 feet, and at the top, there's a panoramic view of the entire valley.
Along the way, we encountered local wildlife. The lizard was posing, I swear. I kept getting closer and closer and he moved only to give me a better view. If I had brought a fan, he would have been working the wind.
Farther along, we saw a furry critter that I have never seen in its natural environment - a tarantula. It also posed. Clearly the Park Service is training the wildlife.
Although I'm old enough to know these things, I learned yet another lesson about the importance of sun screen. I thought I had put enough on, but I guess there's no such thing as too much SPF, because I got a good one and ended up peeling a week later.
Once we got showered up, we headed out to use up a gift certificate that sister had for foot massage. This was not your average foot massage. When the little lady saw that my jeans weren't going to fold up over my knees, she had me remove them, tucking a towel around me and clucking. This place had giant recliners, and two-foot tall baskets in which to soak your feet and legs up to the crook of your knee in hot water. Until they started working over the tootsies. I was in a daze by the time we left. And since dinner was a nutrition conscious helping of fish and salad and other good things, we decamped to Dairy Queen afterward for a treat. Yes, there's much mention of Dairy Queen in this blog.
Next, El Corazon de El Paso.
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