On the outskirts of Canutillo, visible from I-10 is a rather curious structure. Sitting in the desert is a dome shaped, round concrete house.  As a kid, I could recall seeing it when we would travel west and it would immediately conjure up images of what living in the “future” must be like.

I never got to see the house up close but you easily could see the domed concrete roof, gazebo and diving boards from the freeway.  It was right out of an episode of “That’s Incredible” or “Real People”, where they would show some family living off the grid in a solar dome in New Mexico making their own gasoline from corn or something.

On a recent trip to pick up firewood in Las Cruses, I scanned for it as we passed where it should have been. Either I had missed it or something was blocking my view because I didn’t see it.  I checked Bing maps’ “birds-eye-view” and found an image of it so at least when Bing went live it was still there:

Hmmm, It didn’t look as fantastic as I remembered but hey its standing.  I headed to check it out in person and see what it would be like to live in a future from the 70’s.

The site was less Barbarella and more Mad Max. The main house has collapsed on itself and unkempt shrubs and weeds were everywhere.

Upon closer inspection you get a sense that the construction was a little less refined than it appeared from afar and whoever built it really liked concrete.  Not only was the roof concrete but the exterior walls, gazebo and weird tubular perimeter fence were cement. The interior walls also have rocks embedded in them in a rather haphazard pattern.

I couldn’t get a feel for what the interior would have looked like due to the roof collapse.  It was apparent that nobody has lived here in a long time.  The interior has been stripped and graffiti covers every surface.

The pool must have been a sight in it’s heyday. You can imagine all manner of 70’s disco parties taking place here; mustaches, corvettes, polyester and cocaine.

It would be interesting to know what caused the owners to abandon their hip outpost. Judging by the lack of any insulation, keeping this place cool or hot might have been a chore. Maybe they were bankrupted by the acres of concrete layed in casting this place.  One things for sure, you don’t get up and leave your house unmonitored in Canutillo.  That’s asking for gangs to move in.

It was a bummer seeing this place in such disarray.  Much like my fantasy future of geodesic dome living never panned out, it didn’t for the owners here either.  The hard truth is given enough time, concrete will crack no matter how much you pour.

A bigger walk through is here: This Old Round House.

Few places in El Paso are steeped legend and lore like Concordia Cemetery.

Concordia is the final resting place for all manner of historical figures; generals, outlaws, and civic leaders scattered alongside commoners and unmarked graves. The most famous resident and who’s remains were at the center of a recent legal battle between the city and his surviving family is John Wesley Hardin.

The purported outlaw extraordinaire, has had all manner of tall tales told about him. He has been portrayed as a gambler, outlaw, lawyer and heavy drinker with the truth lying somewhere in between.  Famed El Paso historian, Leon Metz, has a book about him that you can browse through at Google Books.

The cemetery is relatively well maintained now, watched over by the Concordia Heritage Association.  Occasional vandalism is still a problem but Concordia is nowhere near the scary drug den that I recall being warned about in my youth. The graveyard is broken out into sections which makes for an interesting walk through on cultural burial customs. El Paso may not have its own “Chinatown” but we at least have a place to bury the Chinese.

All of the sections have a mix of grave markers from very ornate and opulent tombs to simple unmarked wooden crosses.  You’ll even come across a nice advertisement:

I guess if you buy the plot you can do what ever with it.  One thing that struck me, as I wandered around looking at the family names scattered around, was how connected to El Paso’s past many of these individuals are.  Their names are left not only here but all over El Paso, on buildings and street signs, permanent markers to their commitment to the city’s growth from dusty outpost to sprawling metropolis.

If you happen to be walking around during the summer, bring some water.  There is hardly any vegetation or shade and no water fountains so it gets quite toasty.  Or you could just hop over to L&J for a drink:

I have a bigger walk through that you can view at Flickr here: Concordia Cemetery

We finally had a couple of good rain storms but nowhere near where the annual rainfall totals should be.  When it does rain we usually get a few smallish mushrooms but nothing like these monsters that have sprouted up:

I wonder if the Smurfs are setting up shop to begin their sequel.  I had better send Indy out to investigate…

On July 30th we joined a local El Paso Mini club, EPMINIS for a rally to the Sunspot National Observatory just outside of Cloudcroft NM.

View Larger Map

The rally started at 9:30 with everybody meeting at Starbucks off of I-54 for a quick drive to Alamogordo New Mexico.  In Alamogordo there was a a brief lunch break at Alameda park before we headed into the Lincoln National Forest towards Cloudcroft.

We were driving our Jeep and don’t have a Mini but we were given a nice “Honorary Mini” car-magnet to identify us as part of the rally.  The El Paso crew was joined by some New Mexico Mini-ers, so there was quite a turnout.

The drive to Cloudcroft is pretty quick with a nice change in elevation as you enter the forest.  The roads are curvy and the Minis were cruzing at a good clip on the way to Sunspot.  We wound up in the middle of the pack so I did my best to keep the Jeep in the mix and not slow anybody up.  The Jeep handles really good for a large SUV, supported by a new stiffer uni-body construction and airbag suspension. The 5.7 HEMI helped too:)

First stop was the National Solar Observatory (NSO).   Their mission statement from their website:

“The mission of the National Solar Observatory is to advance knowledge of the Sun, both as an astronomical object and as the dominant external influence on Earth, by providing forefront observational opportunities to the research community. The mission includes the operation of cutting edge facilities, the continued development of advanced instrumentation both in-house and through partnerships, conducting solar research, and educational and public outreach. “

It was a nice facility with plenty of parking and a visitors center.

After a brief explanation of the facilities purpose, which included an overview of the structure of the sun, we were given a tour of the grounds by a astronomy student who works there. The tallest on site was the Dunn Solar Telescope:

After viewing the inside and getting a overview of how the scope works, we exited and toured the rest of the site wrapping up at about 3:00 PM.  From the NSO we motored over to Apache Point Observatory (APO) where one of the EpMini club members, Garrett worked and was going to give us a tour. APO is a private facility partnered with the NSO and New Mexico State University.

Garrett’s job at APO was keeping the 2.5 meter telescope operational.  He explained the telescopes capabilities and showed us the work that goes into the fiber optic cartridges that are used to do spectral analysis on stars, planets and other space objects. Garrett gave us a lot of info and really showed some enthusiasm for his job.  I would imagine working here to be pretty chill, you get to look out into space seeing things that few people get to experience, coupled with the calm forest surroundings.

One of the best parts about the APO tour was the view from the Sacramento Mountains down into the valley. The Who’s “I can see for miles” sums it up best:

We were finished at APO at about 5:00 and it was time to head back home. I would like to thank the EPMINIS group for letting an ol’ Jeep tag along, it was good to get away from the heat in El Paso.  For more pictures of the NSO and APO sites see my Flickr set here: Sunspot Rally 2011

If you do any traveling on I-10, chances are you have seen McKinney Wrecking across from UTEP.

As far as I know, it’s the only recycled building materials lot in El Paso (the only interesting one anyway.)  The main building that houses their offices was once part of Prices Dairy and was moved to its current location next to Globe Mills some time in the 80’s.  If a large building is torn down in El Paso, chances are any historically significant pieces (valuable too) will wind up here.

From used claw foot tubs, doors, cabinets and lighting fixtures, if it can be reused they’ve got it.

You want some beer and nacho soaked seats from Dudley field? You’d better hurry, they only have 3 rows left! Are you tired of the neighbors parking in front of your driveway? Set up a large no parking sign:

You will need to supply your own “No” though.  Fun fact, this sign is from the parking garage that used to be at Mills and Oregon, prominently used in the the first “The Getaway” movie. It has since been demolished and replaced with a bigger garage.

You can wander around the lot for hours and any given time you stop by you are guaranteed to see something new. When I was walking around I noticed something on one of the Globe Mills silos that I hadn’t noticed before:

It’s almost baked off but the faint remains of an old Cream of Wheat sign can be seen on one of the silos.  I walked around a bit more and snapped a few more pictures, of which you can see here: McKinney Wrecking