#566 Photos from El Paso #1

My brother braved the cold weather over Christmas when he visited us. We promised to visit him and did so the first week of February. He promised us good weather when we got there. He is a man of his word. The weather was in the 60's and 70's. In fact one day they tied a high temperature at 77 and the next day set a new record at 79. We were pleased with that. However, the morning we left the temperature was in the high 30's and there was snow coming down. It was only flurries, but snow nonetheless. The temperature in Kansas City was in the high 60's upon our return. Now to our visit to El Paso.

When we first left the El Paso airport we took time to visit the Equestrian, a 42 foot tall sculpture of a man on horseback. There was some controversy about it when it was being installed. I posted a photo of this same statue back in late summer. It is still a magnificent piece of art.













The Franklin mountains were quite beautiful.













The first day of visiting sites around El Paso we toured the El Paso Museum of Art, the Paso del Norte Hotel, now known as the El Camino Real, and the Railroad Transportation Museum of El Paso.

We parked across the street from the El Paso Museum of Art. The El Paso convention center is just across the street to the west from the art museum.






















We first visited the art museum. It is quite a beautiful building, considering it once housed the Greyhound bus station.
























After visiting the museum of art we stopped by the El Camino Real hotel to see the original Tiffany skylight. It cost a whopping three million dollars to have it made, transported and installed back wheb the hotel was constructed as the Paso del Norte Hotel in 1912. It was so beautiful that we took the time for a cool drink. The weather was quite pleasant compared to Kansas.














These photos below show the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad engine #1. When I took the last photo Mr. McKenzie, the museum director blew the train's whistle, or at least a wonder facsimile thereof. It is amazing how they were able to restore the engine.




































The photos below depict the museum's tribute to the Harvey Girls. The story of Harvey Girls began in Leavenworth, KS. Fred Harvey developed a chain of restaurants along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe rail line. The restaurants were subsidized by the railroad. He hired young, single women to wait tables. The food and service were excellent. There are a number of sites where you can find more information about Fred Harvey. We learned more about the Harvey Girls during our recent research to develop a script for the Leavenworth Trolley Tour. We were pleasantly surprised to see this display. Apparently there is a Harvey Girls group in El Paso, just like in Leavenworth.
















#566