Great Mexican food. Unbelievably polluted. And for some reason, about half of the times I've driven through, I've hit a hail storm.
On a road trip to Cali we stopped and picked up my aunt in El Paso. There was some kind of freaking dust storm going on that day. Dust in my eyes, in my mouth... gross. It looked like a sucky place to me.
I concur with the sentiment already posted on here. Never liked El Paso, wouldn't want to spend over 100 days a year there. I don't think it will be the end of the world. Franklin Mountains State Park is actually pretty, and as mentioned, the weather there can be fairly decent. And you're close to a lot of decent weekend activities, from Guadalupe Mountains/Big Bend, to New Mexico ski towns (or Santa Fe), etc. Heck, if you're a driver, you can get anywhere from Houston to Los Angeles to Denver in a decent days drive. So as isolated as you may be, you also have options. But I would NEVER want to live there. Hold your noise as you drive north out of town, btw.
My bf lived there for 7 months last year... He said it wasn't all that and it was pretty safe even though Juarez is close by.
