After my hike at Hueco Tanks on December 5, I drove out of El Paso along the Trans-Mountain Highway. I already posted some of my thoughts on El Paso here, and I hereby promise you a more complete treatment at a later date.

On the way out of town, I paid a visit to the El Paso Archaeological Society's museum. It's rather small but it's somewhat informative. Unlike me, the lady there thinks Kennewick Man is an Asian. To each his own. The mannequins there are almost nekkid. Sure, some have loincloths on, but some are fully nude for all the world to see. Lonewacko Jr. jumped a bit when he saw a hottie mannequin on her knees grinding masa, so I escorted him out of the museum tout de suite.

Outside the museum is Wilderness Park. I hadn't read the brochure that carefully, because I thought it was a zoo like the Living Desert State Park outside Carlsbad. However, it was basically just a small cactus garden.

Next door to the archaeology museum is the National Border Patrol Museum, which was one of the places I had on my El Paso shortlist. I could have safely passed it by however. It's kind of rundown and antiquated, and not in a good way. Some might consider it a funky tourist destination, but I just thought it was a bit dumpy. They're independent and not affiliated with the Border Patrol itself, so they refused to discuss border issues with me. If they knew anything about the wider context of immigration policy, they kept it to themselves. They were mainly a cop museum, and not a site dealing with the wider issue of immigration.

And, like I said, stay tuned for an El Paso summary in a day or so.