Is El Paso Pretty? (Houston, Midland: beach, sushi, design)

[joqua]

Originally Posted by Old Gringo

I get the definite impression that the root of your discontent is not El Paso...

[TexasCCW]

Originally Posted by joqua

[tangelag]

Funny that AirportFan doesn't like El Paso (especially the airport???), because one of the things I DO love about EP is ...the airport. I have traveled a great deal, nationally and internationally and the only airport I look forward to is the El Paso International. It is small, quaint, a quick in and out, just...home. Love the remodel done a few years ago, love the southwestern décor. I live in Las Cruces, NM, 40+ miles away and I love having EP so close. Not just for travel, but for entertainment and shopping opportunities. I am there at least once weekly. Traffic? Well, it is traffic. No getting around it. LOTS of trucks. It is an old city. That is one of if not the main charm of EP. Beautiful? I don't know. It is in the eye of the beholder. I have always felt there was too much concrete which only exacerbates the heat. The Franklin Mountains? Well, the Organ Mountains in Las Cruces are more beautiful. My biggest problem with EP is that it is in Texas : ( Three great things about Texas: Austin, San Antonio and El Paso. I would choose EP over anywhere in Florida. One big question: Dry desert heat or unrelenting humidity? I think a person is either desert, mountain, plains or beach, so you have to 'pick your poison'.

[Mass Transit user]

El Paso is ugly. It's all freeways and strip malls and big box stores and malls and ugly suburbs.
Even the suburbs where the so called "rich" people live are ugly. Just because a city has a lot of places to go buy things does not make it a nice or a "pretty" city.
EP's only saving grace, the little that there is, are the surrounding mountains and desert countryside.
I know that Chaparral, NM is not EPTX but it is some of the most beautiful desert around that part of the world. Now that it's out, you are going to have the people who can afford it buying up the best real estate out there in Chaparral. And there are some spots that have some really fantastic views of the desert and the mountains nearby in Chaparral. Which by the way is only about ten miles outside of EP.

[ognend]

Originally Posted by Mass Transit user

El Paso is ugly. It's all freeways and strip malls and big box stores and malls and ugly suburbs.
Even the suburbs where the so called "rich" people live are ugly. Just because a city has a lot of places to go buy things does not make it a nice or a "pretty" city.
EP's only saving grace, the little that there is, are the surrounding mountains and desert countryside.
I know that Chaparral, NM is not EPTX but it is some of the most beautiful desert around that part of the world. Now that it's out, you are going to have the people who can afford it buying up the best real estate out there in Chaparral. And there are some spots that have some really fantastic views of the desert and the mountains nearby in Chaparral. Which by the way is only about ten miles outside of EP.

You forgot to leave the address of the house you have up for sale in Chapparal! Just kidding. I liked the look of El Paso, much prettier to me than places like Austin, for example.

[Old Gringo]

It's no longer the wild west, but some like it.

[SlowDriver]

I liked it. I visited last October, because I had never been to a desert climate before. For me, travel is about the landscape, not really the city life, and El Paso was an interesting view, like nothing I'd seen. Driving from the airport to McKelligon Canyon, I passed through what looked like a very old neighborhood, probably not well-to-do, but the style of houses was very quaint in a way, and peering out over the rest of the city rolling below, framed by mountains, was the nicest low-scale neighborhood scenery I've seen. It still kept the look of a small town, mostly.

McKelligon Canyon was probably my favorite part. Driving up to the middle of the canyon and looking down onto the city and surrounding area--like I said, great view.

I also drove out through Hudspeth County on Hwy. 180 (where the speed limit is 80 MPH!) through nice, open countryside, with solitary mountains jutting up from the sand/grass/gravel now and then, visible off in the distance. Made it to Dell City, almost to the Guadalupe Mts., then drove south towards Sierra Blanca over rolling fields. I imagined this would be a nightmare location in tornado-weather.

Saw real cacti, real tumbleweeds. Hey, I'm easy to please. The tumbleweeds were kind of large, and I wasn't sure how well a car could drive over them, so I tried avoiding them.

I didn't stay long, but enjoyed the sights. Would come visit again.

[kidicarus89]

All of the cons that people bring up (big box stores, freeways, suburbia) can be said for every single American city that ISN'T NY, Chicago, Boston or SF.

[kidicarus89]

Originally Posted by Mass Transit user

El Paso is ugly. It's all freeways and strip malls and big box stores and malls and ugly suburbs.

That's every major city in America, besides a handful.

[SW Desert Dweller]

I've lived in over a dozen locations all over the US. As one would gather from my name, the Southwest is my favorite.
To me, El Paso epitomizes the border Southwest. You either like it ("get it"), or you don't. I've been here for almost 15 years now, and I do not see myself moving soon.

On the other hand, I have lived in several other places where (given a choice) I would never live again.