Boston Daydreams

I recently had a chance to visit some old stomping grounds and my family in Boston, MA!  It was a fantastic visit and made me long for green grass, dandelions, humidity, sea water, trees, public transportation and more!

We departed extremely early from El Paso, because we did not want to waste the day away just traveling.  So upon arrival at Logan airport, we set out on the trains and buses to navigate our way to Watertown where my brother, sister in law and two kids lived.  I say lived because they are making a big move to Dallas and by the time this blog goes up, they will no longer reside on the east coast.  So it was our last chance to visit Boston with them!  I however still have family in Connecticut, where I grew up and hope to visit them soon as well!

I felt like a tourist all over again, trying to figure out the train and bus routes and payment info.  We stopped downtown to grab a quick bite to eat before continuing on.  All in all we took 2 planes, 3 trains and 1 bus! 

Hot dog and a lime rickey!  yes please.

Lucha Libre himself!

Beautiful path.  This led us to a fun park, the public library and a cute lunch spot!

David spent a lot of time teaching Anis how to climb trees.

The newest addition Issam.

UP!

I love and miss treeees!

My brother and his family from Connecticut came up to go with us to the Franklin Park Zoo.  This was where I interned right after my bachelors and then was a keeper for a bit.  I had a great experience as an intern and have vivid memories of working with the eider ducks, joey (baby kangaroo), anaconda and burmese python, birds birds birds and lots of great people (Anne, Jenna, Johnathon, Jake, Michelle and Hulia to name a few)!  I also have great memories from the intern classes we took each week and hope to bring some of those ideas into my workshops at the El Paso Zoo.  I have grown so much since I was an intern.  I remember interviewing and really not knowing much of anything!  Being an intern started my journey and my attitude to constantly be learning and questioning the world around me, which led to me going back to school for a masters degree in biology (wildlife).  Now, I have returned to the zoo world!

Let me tell you how impressed I am with little Jalloul.  He is pictured above and below.  While visiting the zoo we passed by a graphic of our local birds in the area.  He was able to identify chickadee, blue jay, cardinal, woodpecker and many more!  Most adults can not do that!

They loved the silly rides.

Chillin with the tigers.

If you go to Boston, there are few stops you must make.  Mike's Pastry shop is one of them.  The place is always packed and is nestled in the North End which is home to fantastic Italian restaurants.

While exploring some of downtown Boston, we noticed several Hubway areas.  Hubway is a unique way to rent a bike to get to work, get some lunch or tour the city!  Locations are set up all around the city to pick up and drop off the bikes.  Lots of people were utilizing this green service!

El Paso is trying to set up a rent a bike system for downtown as well so people don't have to use their cars for the short trips around downtown.  I am all for it!  But really, our downtown area is small enough that we should easily be able to walk from place to place in less than 5 blocks.  But the bikes would help to create a more bike and exercise friendly mind set.

One of the biggest differences of visiting Boston, is the amount of people out exercising, walking, enjoying parks, and using public transportation.  It is a culture of activity.  El Paso offers many outdoor activities and sunny weather to enjoy it, but I am still shocked at how many people have yet to visit the Franklin Mountains, the largest urban park in the country.  That's right, it is only about 20 minutes from downtown!   But while living here, I have not held up my end of the bargain either.  I vowed to ride my bike to work at least once a week.  This year, I have not rode my bike to work very often and I have not taken the bus much either.  The simple reason is time.  It takes a little over an hour on the bus or on my bike and about 15 minutes in my car.   Time is just another excuse.  Visiting Boston has sparked my ambition again and I hope to be back on the bike soon!  The traffic here is not as bad as in Boston but maybe the cars there are a bit more aware of bikes? 

Need motivation to ride your bike?  Read this article from Grist entitled, "Get your ass on that bike!" in honor of National Bike Month! 

I am so excited about a school I have been working with that is going to take public transportation for their field trip!  I love it and wish more schools took a chance and used public transportation!

Rent your Hubway bike!

Water taxi!  Call and they come and pick you up!

The crazy fam.

 Just enjoying the city!

Basically how we felt having to say goodbye. :(

It was awesome to visit family from Boston and Connecticut.  I am excited that some of them will be moving to Dallas.  I hope to get to them a lot More often! 

UNTIL NEXT TIME BOSTON!

I will be dreaming of seafood...

Clam chowda in a sourdough bread bowl and calamari. :)

Boston daydreams.

My First Poppies Fest! 2012

Well March 31, 2012 was a crazy day.  The 2012 Poppies Fest on Castner Range was held at the Museum of Archaeology, chaired by yours truly.  The poppies themselves were in fantastic bloom and survived the harsh winds and cold front the week before.  Castner Range was in all of its glory that day with poppies blooming, unique craft vendors, educational exhibitors, children's activities, nature tours, nature talks, live music, yumtastic food and a vibe of protecting our mountains!  Thousands of El Pasoans, the Mayor, Congressman Reyes and lots of media came out to support the event and the mission of preservation. 

The Museum of Archaeology lies in the heart of Castner Range along the Transmountain Corridor, which is a road that travels through the Franklin Mountains in El Paso.  The road is the only road up and over the mountains and gives a traveler a beautiful view of the landscape while easily linking the East and West sides of El Paso.  The Transmountain corridor is in a heated battle between people who want to make the road wider and build, build, build, versus people who would like the area to remain in its natural state.  I am sure you know which side I am on.  The foothills provide much needed habitat for the unique and extremely high biodiversity that lies in the Chihuahuan desert.   Although, I am all for the improvement and building of El Paso, but there is plenty of underutilized space within city limits for growth.  There are many run down buildings, empty spaces within the city that could be revitalized and keep the growth centralized.  Centralized growth would allow for ease of public transportation or (an absurdity) walking from place to place.  Let's leave Transmountain wild and build our city at our city.  Keep it simple.

If you were not able to attend the event but would still like to support Poppies Fest and the preservation of the Franklin Mountains, "like" the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition!  They are working hard to preserve the natural beauty of our mountains and have recently collaborated with the Sierra Club to take on the "builders".   The best way to keep up with what is going on with the conservation issues surrounding the Franklin Mountains is to follow a friend's blog at elpasonaturally.blogspot.com, where you can find just how to make your voice heard!

As you can imagine I was running around most of the day, but I was able to snap a few pictures of the event. 

Setting up their educational exhibitor stations.

Tigua Drumming and Dancing - and of course people enjoying.

The friendship circle dance led by the Tiguas.

LOVE this pic.  Just warms your heart.  Boy scouts were in charge of making sure people correctly placed their trash and recyclables!

Heather and Takota (EPZ Golden Eagle) made a showing!

Ceiba and Friends performing. 

Nature Tours every hour!  Wish I went on one!

Even David made it out.  Checking out a tipi.

Border Patrol volunteers on hand ALL DAY!  They were awesome!

This day took an army to put together.  I am so thankful for the committee volunteering their time to make Poppies Fest a priority.  Lots of appreciation goes out to all of the volunteers (over 100 people), all collaborating organizations, sponsors, media that helped promote the event for FREE and everyone that attended!

I am truly grateful for the opportunity to be the event chair.  I am excited to work out some kinks for next year!  (PS: I know our biggest kink is the shuttle situation.  Many ideas have been tossed around and you can bet next year will be better!). 


Poppies! ... do you know why they are called poppies?  Because when they go to seed, their seeds "pop" off of them! 

The zoo has been a zoo!

The past two weeks at the zoo have literally been a zoo!  For the most part the weather has been great and it has been Spring Break!  Ahh, Spring Break, a time of relaxation and revitalization to push forward into a new year.  NO LONGER!  This spring break was an extremely busy yet creative time for me at the zoo. 

The first week of spring break we had our first ever Spring Break Camp from 9-12pm, Monday through Friday for kids ages 7-14.  It was a success.  Although I was crunched for time I loved coming up with activities for the kids to enjoy and at the same time be learning about wildlife and conservation.  The themed days were Nature Art, Geocaching, Nocturnal Animals, Backyard Wildlife and Tracks and Scat.  My two favorite activities for the kids was a home made nocturnal maze I built for them using materials we had at the zoo.  They were blindfolded and had to use their senses to navigate the maze.  The kids loved it but really loved leading each other through the maze.  My other favorite was chalk art, in which they were challenged to make their pavement box into an animal's habitat.  It took a while to set up but the kids enjoyed crawling around on the ground to create their masterpieces.  I am extremely thankful to the volunteers who helped me out during the week!  25 kids and no volunteers would have been horrible!  Luckily they also helped me break down and set up the zoo everyday. 

Nature Art: Chalk

Nocturnal Maze at the zoo!

Where are you?

To view all of the pictures from the camp thanks to Adrian Cisneros, take a look on the El Paso Zoo Facebook page here.  There are some really cute ones that will make you smile!

Most schools were off the second week in March but there were a decent amount that were off the third week.  For those kids and families we offered daily one hour workshops at 10am and 2pm everyday Monday through Friday.  There were families that joined us everyday and I grew close to them and looked forward to their arrival each day.  A one hour workshop was perfect to entice them with the activity for the day but also explore more that the zoo has to offer.  I loved the workshops.

One family thanked me for the week with this awesome potted plant! LOVE.

The second Saturday of my Spring Break was working at Kidspalooza!  Even without knowing what Kidspalooza is, it sounds like a madhouse... and it was!  The El Paso Zoological Society had a booth at the downtown El Paso children's event.  My station was making magical animal masks out of household materials (paper plates).  In my head the point was that you don't have to have all the supplies in the world to be creative and do a project with your kids.  There are tons of materials you can upcycle into beautiful works of art.  With 20,000 people attending Kidspalooza I don't think that message was passed along.  We probably had a few thousand come by our table and it was busy the entire day.  People were crazy about the masks but I don't think many of them thought, wow this is something I could do at home!  Throughout the day, I did manage to gather a few more emails for the email list at the zoo.  If you would like to know about upcoming programs or events or just see my dandy emails, sign up here.  No worries, I won't sell your emails and you will only receive about 1 per month unless there is so much going on I need to send 2!  Thank you to Renee, the Zoological society director, Darrel (volunteer), and the facilities guys that dropped off and picked up the tent and tables!

Our peaceful setup prior to the thousands of people!

My Spring Break continues... The 6th annual Poppies Festival on Castner Range is this upcoming weekend March 31st at the Museum of Archaeology!   The planning committee has been planning this event for months and this year the Mexican Gold Poppies are blooming!  I am the chairperson for this event and I have also never seen the poppies before so I am sooo excited for this Saturday!  The event is FREE and will include children's activities, about 30 unique art vendors and 30 educational exhibitors, live entertainment from local indian groups and musicians, a live wolf, nature talks, nature tours, food including local buffalo stew and so much more!  The event is 10-4 and parking is at the EPCC transmountain campus with shuttles provided.  

Spread the word about the Poppies Fest and join us to help preserve Castner Range.  The Museum of Archaeology is in the heart of Castner Range.  Castner Range is a former artillery range, owned by Fort Bliss, known for its cultural, geologic and unique biology.  Many consider Castner Range the crown jewel of the Franklin Mountains.  This is the reason I got involved in the event.  Often during my programs at the zoo urban sprawl comes up, and it is easy for people to picture urban sprawl happening around the world.  Many wild places are being destroyed for human use for homes, apartments, stores, roads, etc.  But what people don't realize is this is happening in our backyards.  The Franklin Mountains are part of El Paso but only the state park is preserved as a wild space.  The foothills of the mountains is being sought after by contractors to build houses, roads and more.  This area is extremely important for the rich biodiversity of the area.  If you want to learn more, come to the event!  The Franklin Mountains Wildnerness Coalition is a nonprofit dedicated to preserve the scenic beauty and wilderness character of the Franklin Mountains.  Even if you don't frequent hiking in the mountains, but just value being able to look up from downtown El Paso and see the mountains, come to the Poppies Fest! 

Castner range in all its glory!

Beautiful.

My Spring "Break" should really be called Spring Madness.  But the good kind: the fun, creative, exhausting Madness! 

Madness.

Family Time

We had our first visitor to El Paso and broke some more "myths" of the area.  My mamasita came to visit for a few days and she was shocked at the size of El Paso, not just a border town.  El Paso is again over 700,000 people and if you combine the Las Cruces area it is over 1 million people.  That is not counting Juarez with over 1.5 million people. 

My mom was here for a few days and we were able to explore so many areas but our first stop was of course, The El Paso Zoo!  Pictures, Pictures and more Pictures:

 

Being so close to African lions is amazing.  You can really appreciate how large they are.  Especially when they are stalking you.

 

This Blue and Gold Macaw loves attention and he sure did get ours! 

 My mom is an amazing horse trainer and she was impressed at the training of the Asian elephants.   Love at elephant sight!  

These two old ladies (the elephants) still enjoy their behavioral enrichment and definitely enjoy scouring the exhibit looking for their produce!

After the zoo we explored the local downtown Mexican shops.  The following morning we hiked up a trail at the Franklin Mountains to one of several springs in the area.  Wouldn't it be nice if it was a huge swimming hole with crystal clear water.  What we found was a small mud puddle, but a cottonwood tree, grass, flowers, butterflies, and birds were all loving the oasis of the mud puddle!  And it is just enough water to support wildlife through a tough drought and desert habitat.

We finally reached some shade near the spring!

 

The Spring.  We jumped in and went swimming! ;)

 

Mamasita taking a break.

A lot of work was done on the trails at the Franklin Park.  They are in need of some repair but who knows what will happen now:  TPWD recently went through huge budget cuts and reduced the TPWD staff tremendously in El Paso.  The Superintendent was let go as well and now, the area is managed by someone over 200 miles away.  This is not a good thing for wildlife or parks in Texas and especially in El Paso.  The Wyler's Aerial Tramway that I was lucky enough to ride on to the top of the Franklin Mountains now only has very limited hours on Saturday and Sunday.  The Franklin Mountains State Park is the biggest urban park in the US and faces severe threats of encroachment by houses and roads along the foothills of the state park boundary.  I am worried for wildlife and the land.  It reminds me of Aldo Leopold's "Thinking like a Mountain".  Maybe we should all stop and think about what the mountain needs because in the end it will come back and bite us!  Only the mountain has been around long enough to know how to manage itself. 

Oh and by the way, you can help save the Franklin Mountains, even living out of El Paso.  You can sign an online petition.  Please click here and take a second to sign the petition to save the Franklin Mountains through Care2.  Signing petitions are a great way to support the causes you care about if you don't have financial or volunteer time to give.  So keep it simple and go sign the petition!

 Can you find the animal? 

 That hat saved my life!  So hot in the sun but plop it up on your ponytail and it allows the air to circulate but still provide shade.  I am in the market for a bigger one though. 

My mom looks so teeny in comparison to the mountain.  It was cool to walk through different habitats in the desert.  So much diversity lives here and at first it seems barren, but then your eyes start to see the differences.

A Two-tailed butterfly on a thistle right near the spring at Franklin Mountain State Park.

This beautiful species of butterfly was everywhere once we got up to the spring.  There were also a lot of dead ones there as well.  I did a little research and found out it was Two-tailed swallowtail.  While we were up there we were speculating why there were so many dead ones?  They do lay their eggs on a host tree but in the research it did not say anything about them dying after or not?  So if you know some more on butterfly life cycles please let us know!  And maybe something was eating them because only their wings were left. 

After our long hike we took the scenic road up to Mesilla, a small town in New Mexico.  Along the way there were pecans, pecans and pecans.  Mesilla was a quaint small town that had a Santa Fe vibe with adobe buildings and small shops, art galleries and local food.  Definitely a place I would like to go back and explore more of. 

 Pecan trees take over the landscape on the drive to Mesilla.

So much to do and so little time.  I am so glad my mom had the chance to come down and visit.  On her 8 hour drive home she stopped at the Guadeloupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns and said they were amazing!  I can't wait to visit and camp!

Visit!