One or More Things I Did Today (El Paso! Edition)

And Let It Be Known, that on July 21st, in the year of 2 thousands and 11, I was up to this:

• In the interest of managing content on WIDWINW (learning these editorial tricks as I go along), I shelved mentioning where I stayed on July 19th for this post. It's all about content management.
• The previous evening found me as a guest of Stuart and Shari Schwartz of El Paso, Texas.
• Wonderfully warm hosts, the Schwartzes put me up on my visit to El Paso, fed me, and perhaps most importantly, provided me with a bag of Double Stuffed Oreos to ease my travels. Thanks, guys!

Thank you, Schwartz Family

• Got on the road early today. The goal: Guadalupe Mountains.
• Hitting the road, I reach the park bearing the "Top of Texas" in about 3 hours.
  
• This is something of a return to this area* - back in August 2005, three dear friends and I wanted to plan a trip. Came down to New Orleans and Guadalupe Mountains National Park. For reasons I don't recall, we opted to head west rather than east, and were out in the desert for several days. Within minutes of resurfacing in civilization in Van Horn, Texas, we saw on the TV at the Mexican place we were eating news that Katrina had consumed New Orleans. I'm glad we went west.
  
• This time I've no friends with me - just myself and the desert. I encountered a total of one other party on my hike. Nothing like hours of hiking with just yourself, the mesquite, and the rattlesnakes.
• The view from on high:

Crap, left my camera down there!

• Not the most sexy view in the world, but a view nonetheless.
  
• After planking the summit and battling flying ants for the visitor's registry that sits in a crack in the rocks, I high-tailed it down the mountain and made a line for Marfa, where I'd lay may head for the evening.
• Wow, just now realizing there was more to this day than I'd originally thought...
  
• Super-jumbo One or More Things I Did Today Edition!!!

• Welcome to the second half of my July 20th, 2011.
• Hm... that boast above miiight have been a bit premature.
  
• And let me tell you why: I don't want to do a disservice to these next two tidbits, so I'm saving them both for separate posts.
• I'm sorry! But it's for your own good, being a supporting partner and angel investor in WIDWINW. We're all about monetization of this blog here at this blog, and content management (see first bullet) is key to maximizing our impending IPO.
• You understand, right?
• Picture of the Day:

Top o' Texas, Y'all. Whataburger scheduled for 2013 opening.

As they say, "It was a Day".

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*Literary indulgence - it's every bit a return, since I haven't been here since the last (which was also the first) time I was here. Hm, this point seems rife with stating the obvious. Better move on...