February 28 - Jaiden’s Birthday!
We woke up to a bright calm morning! It was much nicer driving to Deming, New Mexico without the high winds.
March 1
City of Rocks State Park turned out to be a real find. It consists of one square mile of unusual rock formations. Pinnacles rise up to 40 feet and are separated by paths or lanes resembling city streets. Rocks are piled on top of each other and balancing in places you would think would just topple over. We drove into Deming and visited a fabulous museum, the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum. The excellent displays have been done by volunteers! Pioneer families have really come through and donated wonderful items. They have put together mini rooms set up like store fronts to display everything from a beauty salon to the saddle shop, just about everything a town would need. I can‘t believe they were able to collect the items. We just couldn’t take it all in. The display of a chuck wagon was my favorite. They had a huge collection of beautiful Mimbres pottery that a couple had collected. The Mimbres people lived in this area from 700 to 1200. Then the Apaches moved in about 1500 followed by the conquistadors, Mexicans and finally us gringos.
We drove south out of town just a ways to Rockhound State Park where you can collect up to 15# of rocks! I collected an agate, jasper, a tiny thunder egg and a rock with tiny crystals in just a few minutes. If you want to climb up the hill, you can dig for geodes and thunder eggs. Jake and Jordan would have fun with that. Back at the Manor we ended the day with a magnificent sunset.



City of Rocks



March 2


Pino Altos 1860's Building/Ice Cream Shop 

 Wow! We have been gone a month already. We have seen so much and enjoyed everything along the way. Today we went north to Silver City and Pinos Altos which sits at over 7,000 feet. Silver City was much larger than we had thought it would be. We were expecting a small historical downtown area but it is a growing city with some sprawling neighborhoods. The historical downtown was recently proclaimed an Arts and Cultural Center by the state of New Mexico. Maybe someday it will grow into that but presently it has many shops that are either closed or empty. It needs a lot of work. As we rose in elevation we came into oak and pine forests. The Town of Pinos Altos began in 1860 when three frustrated 49ers bent down to get a drink from a steam and found gold. Soon there were over 700 miners crawling over the landscape. This brought about conflicts with the Apaches. Cochise joined the Chiricahuas in an attempt to drive the miners from their traditional homeland. Roy Bean operated a mercantile here before moving to West Texas to gain fame as Judge Roy Bean. Today it is still cowboy country with lots of ranchland. Some of the 1860 buildings are still in use today for this small community of 300 people. After lunch we stopped at Fort Bayard which began in 1866. After the Civil War, the Army was challenging the native Americans and forcing them off their land opening the doorway for Americans. All across the southwest the Apaches had been in conflict with invaders of their land. The conquistadors came through opening the way for Mexican settlers which led to conflicts for over 200 years. The Apaches were encouraged when the Americans left after the Mexican War to fight in the Civil War, but soon they were engaging in intensified battles with the American Army as it were sent to protect settlers, miners, and the Butterfield Stage. After Geronimo’s surrender in 1866, the fort expanded and eventually became home to a Military Sanatorium to care for tuberculosis patients. It is now a VA Hospital with brand new buildings. Pioneering research with tuberculosis was going on here at the turn of the century. Some of the interesting human interest stories make visiting areas like this so much more interesting. Dita Kinney R.N. became the first director of the Army Nurses Corps and supervised the inclusion of female nurses into the Corps. Allen Allensworth served at the fort and was the first African-American officer to achieve rank of lieutenant colonel. This one is my favorite: Josephine Clifford arrived at the fort with her husband Lt. James Clifford in 1866, where they lived in a tent with two servants. It was here that James fessed up that he had been accused of homicide and fled the law changing his identity. He threatened to kill her if she revealed his secret. She did reveal his secret and left the fort under armed escort while he was court-martialed and dismissed from the army. Go Josephine! Here’s another one: A 22 year old Buffalo Soldier, a former slave, was stationed at the fort and became disabled. After being treated for an his disabilities in five different forts, he was discharged from the army in 1868. The doctors never discovered that William Cathey was a woman named Cathey Williams. John Pershing, of WWI fame, served his first posting here in 1866. Interesting place when you find out some of the “life” stories.
March 3
We headed for the Phoenix area today to find a “RESORT” atmosphere for our final two weeks before leaving for Hawaii. Norm corrected me a couple of times to save me from the embarrassment of calling it a trailer park. This place is definitely in the “RESORT” category. The Val Vista Resort in Mesa had a spot for us in its neighborhood of over 1,700 spots. I can’t believe I’m in a 55 or over retirement community for snowbirds and loving it!
March 4
We put on our bathing suits and spent the day at the pool! We all even went for a “float.” This place is humming with activities. This morning at 8:00 the billiards room was full for a pool tournament, from 12:00 to 2:00 the courtyard was packed with people listening to live music, not very good, and ordering lunch, happy hour at 3:00 with free beer, shuffleboard tournament next to pool all afternoon, and live music from 4:00 to 6:00! WOW! All we did was lounge by the pool and read. They have every kind of activity possible here. This resort is one of many in this area. There must be at least 10,000 spots for snowbirds! Every day is a “play day.”
March 5
The Heard Museum displaying Native American art was on our list of places to visit. In our reading, we found out that March 5^th and 6^th was their yearly big art fair event. They probably had 100 booths filled with gorgeous Native American art. I could have chosen many beautiful pieces to take home but the price tags were out of my range. Musical groups were entertaining in a small amphitheater all day. We listened to the music and then wound our way through the booths in awe before ending up in the museum. It is definitely not to be missed if you are in this area. We took in as much as we possibly could. One room featured an artist who has won many awards for his amazingly beautiful silver jewelry with inlaid stone. Later we saw his very unassuming booth outside. Upstairs they had a large room explaining the development of the American Indian Boarding Schools that were developed to “Americanize the savages” and how the philosophy changed back and forth through the years. They also have an art program for children focusing on those in 6^th to 12^th grade. We decided to do the Phoenix Art Museum another day and enjoyed a late lunch at Macaroni Grill. We were going to take in a Beer Festival on our way home but it was crowded and we were tired.
　


Mexican Dancers Representing Aztec Culture




Indians Demonstrating Their Craft




Beautiful Display in Heard Museum Representing the Fences Made with Ocotillo Cactus