Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Leaving New Mexico

This is a GIANT metal sculpture of a roadrunner somewhere around Las Cruces, NM along Hwy 10.  This is totally made out of junk from a landfill.  Isn't he FABULOUS???  Do check out the website because you'll find it interesting.  He's like 20' tall, and I apologize that the photo isn't sharper, but moving at 60-65 mph, it's hard to get a great photo!
Also, as we were getting towards the end of New Mexico, we drove by some mountains that looked to have a hole in them, and others that were bizarrly shaped.  We were enthralled, but I couldn't seem to take a picture of them!  As we made our way down the road, we discovered that it was an optical illusion!  No hole in the mountain, and no weirdly shaped hills.  :#
So we moved out of New Mexico and forged ahead in to Texas.  Not much difference in landscape, until we hit El Paso, TX.
El Paso is huge. Really.
It is the sixth-largest city in Texas and the 22nd-largest city in the United States.  Its metropolitan area covers all of El Paso County. El Paso's metropolitan population for 2010, is estimated at 800,647 according to the US Census.
The two cities form a combined international metropolitan area, sometimes called Juarez-El Paso, with Juárez being the significantly larger of the two. Together they have a combined population of 2 million.
I was SO thankful that I was not driving today!  Way too busy, too fast, too much.  I didn't have a warm, fuzzy feeling driving through here.
YIKES! I know that driving through AZ at 75 mph just felt out of control, and I would envision what would happen at one wrong move.
Ahhhh, that's more like it!

5 comments:

  1. Cities - 2m people - no thanks! The last photo is definitely more to my liking.

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  2. AGH....they wouldn't like me much, in Texas. There's NO WAY that I'd be comfortable traveling 80 mph - too much can happen. I don't like interstate driving very much anyway...too many BIG RIGS :)

    So, now you and our old friend, Jen, are in the same State. Can't recall exactly where she is but she's roaming around there somewhere :) probably running in her funky little rubbery toe shoes...hahaha

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  3. Nice-looking countryside, once you're out of the city. What exactly do they mean by 'Drive friendly - the Texas way'? Is there a particularly scary and slightly too fast version of friendly over there?

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  4. I love that sculpture but might it not make people run OFF the road out of sheer surprise?! Btw in the thumbnail I took it for a giraffe... wondering what on earth... LOL

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  5. Definitely the largest roadrunner ever...I like the idea of the art from landfill....
    ;^)
    Tooooo much Texas for me...80 mph???!!! That's insanity. I like the last photo, too.

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