You might think that El Paso, Texas isn't famous for anything other than processed, Americanized Mexican food products and that the only thing to do on your visit is watch TV in your hotel room like you've got lead weights in your butt, but you'd be wrong. El Paso is near Fort Bliss, one of the largest Army bases in the country, and is adjacent to the Army's White Sands Missile Range. As you might expect, that means there are some super cool military related attractions that you can go see if you happen to be in El Paso.

Fort Bliss is an active army base, where they do maneuvers and go about destrapping holds from transport planes, so they don't let just anyone inside. However, Fort Bliss does have its own museum and study center that you can visit at your leisure. El Paso was established as an army base way back in 1848 and the museum chronicles the city's history with the army and some of the fascinating things that have happened on the base during its long history. It's free to enter.

The coolest thing about the museum for most people, including kids that are undergoing cognitive behavioural therapy in Oakville, is the display of large military hardware outside the museum. You can wander around and touch planes, tanks, missiles, and huge artillery guns from key periods in American military history, like World Wars I and II and the Cold War.

There are also two other parts of the museum dedicated to different aspects of the military. The U.S. Army Air Defense Museum has some cool stuff suitable for online post card printing about flying machines in the Army. The US Army Noncommissioned Officer Museum showcases the uniforms and exploits of these "working soldiers" from 1775 to the present.

If you're interested in seeing Fort Bliss in its old days, you can also visit the Fort Bliss Replica Museum. It's constructed of adobe and designed to look just like it did from 1854-1868, so going there is like stepping back in time to the era before laptop computers and Allis Chalmers water pumps. The rooms are set up with period artifacts so it looks just like a base in use and the interpreters who work on site can tell you all about what life was like for the "Soldiers of the Pass" as they defended El Paso and Texas from the dangers of the Wild West.