Twists, Turns, Totally Terrific Tuesday

The day began in total relaxation.  We got up at our usual 6:00 a.m.  Sandy enjoyed her walk.  It was so nice outside that we sat outside enjoying the quiet, calm, and beautiful view the sun gave us.  Carol had coffee.  I had hot chocolate.   It was wonderful not to be in a hurry and to just sit and take the world in.  While we were sitting, four one-man para gliders flew by.

Who wouldn't want to wake up to this?

About 8:30 we left camp to drive to Gila Bend Cliff Dwellings.  First we stopped for gas.  We swallowed hard and paid $3.25 a gallon!  We had to have it, so we paid the price.  We found that gas was over $3.00 at most places on the highways on which we were.  Along the interstate the prices are around $2.65 so the  moral of this story is to stay on the interstate!  If we had done that, we would have missed the beautiful and varied scenery like this.  It seemed around every twist and curve in the road was another pretty picture.

After a while we passed from the high desert scenery to more rock formations.

We had to stop the car to let a flock of wild turkeys cross the road.  There were about six or seven or them.

From the high desert to rocky landscape, we eventually got into the tree-covered mountains.  The mountains here are in the 8-9,000 range.  This area had a fire and the undergrowth was beginning to grow back.

It took us two and a half hours to drive 70 miles because the roadway was made up of signs like this and the one below.  We spent most of our time driving 30 MPH or less.

Just outside of Silver City, we saw this strip-style mine.  It looked very similar to the gold mine we had seen in Colorado.  We found out that it is a copper mine.  

This man and his friend were protesting outside of the Walmart in Silver City.  The sign says that  Walmart is trying to take away his second amend rights.  I would assume the Walmart there is no longer selling guns and ammo.

From  Silver City, we turned north for 44 more miles of stunning scenery and more twists and curves.  The sign at the beginning of the route said it would take two hours to drive the 44 miles and it was correct.  Fortunately, because of the beauty around every twist and curve keep us occupied and we didn't mind the two hours

We saw a sign warning of an active fire.  We found the fire.

After the Indians who lived in the cliffs left in 1300's, the Apache Indians moved into the territory.  The headwaters of the Gila River is in this area.  Geronimo was in this area until 1886 when the federal government forced them onto a reservation.  Geronimo himself led his people to the reservation.

Again, we had a mile hike from the bottom of the valley floor to these caves.  We were glad for the occasional bench on which we could rest.

 The caves are in view at this point of our hike. 

The view the dwellers would have had.  According to the ranger, these caves were occupied approximately 100 years.  

The Indians would have used ladders like this to enter and exit their homes in the caves.  Carol conquered his fear of ladders and heights to exit.

We left Gila Bent by different route but it was just as beautiful.

We saw a total of six deer but I was able to get a close-up of this one.  

Our bright, sunny day became cloudy as we headed back to camp.  

The clouds added a different look for the mountains.

We spent a total of seven hours driving a little over 200 miles but it was worth it.  We took our time and feasted our eyes on the beauty around us.  We experienced that old saying "slow down and smell the roses."  We got back to camp around 7:00 p.m.  Poor Sandy had a long day and was so happy to see us.   Tomorrow we go to White Sands and I don't think it will be as long of a day because most of the driving will be on interstate.