Even though my brother and his wife had been in El Paso for close to six months, they had never visited what I think is one of El Paso’s best attractions – The Wyler Aerial Tramway. As for most trams, the focal point of this attraction is the view from the top. As the cable car inched up the mountain (up another 2,000 feet in addition to the parking lot’s starting elevation of 4,000-plus feet), we heard history of the cable cars and the tramway. We were asked to guess which two countries and which three states we would see at the top. The skies were beautiful the day we picked for our trip, so we got a fantastic view of the U.S. and Mexico and the three states (Texas, New Mexico, and Chihuahua in Mexico)! The cable cars are not as nice as the cable cars for the Palm Springs Tram, but the El Paso observation deck area was much more substantial than the corresponding one in Palm Springs. In fact, we stayed at the top at El Paso for quite some time viewing the scenery using the various "telescopes". There also was a very interesting gift shop where I bought several souvenirs. I am so glad that I brought my brother on the Tram! My pictures don’t do justice to the view visitors actually see. Click here for the tram’s home webpage.
I really wanted to see the The Mission Trail and the three missions listed in the AAA book. I was in the minority, but we agreed to see one mission as a compromise. However, since the routes were not marked well, I ended up the winner since I saw all three. (They are so close together, it only makes sense to see all three). I was, however, disappointed since there wasn’t much information at the missions themselves. So I read information from my tour book, viewed the missions, took some pictures, and then did more research on the web.
I am still glad that we detoured from the main highway and saw this part of history. I am sure I will probably never return to El Paso, so this chance would probably be my only chance to see part of history. One of the missions is undergoing major renovations, so we didn’t see much there. Another one had some very remarkable religious figures inside the mission. Socorro remains one of the oldest continuously occupied settlements in the Southwest.
I have included some pictures, but I suggest you check out the attached websites for better pictures and information.
Click here for general information.
Click here for information about Yseleta.
Click here for history of the area.
Click here for information about Socorro.