SOLO ROADTRIP II: DEMING & SILVER CITY [DAYS 10-12]
the next day i made my way west through the desert. it was a last minute addition, but i decided to stop at a small town called deming, which was such a great decision! i think i was the only tourist in town. so small, but so much character & filled with nice folks who appreciate visitors. the only planned stop was the luna mimbres museum, a local museum housed in the old armory (you can still see the safe for the guns!). this building also became a part of the USO during wwii & you can still see these artifacts, particularly the old dance hall floors.
the old armory (1916)
is the museum outdated? yes, but i think that contributes to it's charm. it seems to be a museum of old things, with some rooms that have themes; displaying donated personal belongings and antiques from the locals. some of these exhibits really just reflect how people lived in the first half of the 20th century, like my grandparents. as a milennial, the technology/culture is not new to me, but i can imagine this museum would be fun to show young kiddos nowadays who may not be so familiar. overall, it was still so much fun and the volunteers were so kind.
the wwii era USO dance hall floors
really the only reason i wanted to go to this museum was to visit the old custom house as i have visited a few in my past travels. old custom houses, railroad stations, & post offices have a special place in my heart for whatever reason. i did not know that the custom house was not open to the public regularly and a employee would have to let me in. if i had known, i would not have asked, but they were so insistent so i went along though i had a time crunch. it all worked out for the best. the old custom house became a residence so today it is a museum showing how people lived in the 1900s. the employee was a nice women in her 70s who talked about her upbringing in the area & how she grew up without any plumbing. i talked about my travels as we admired the architecture & decor. it was a very pleasant conversation.
the museum had a little pamphlet of historic buildings in town so i did a little walking our of the older buildings & murals. i ended up walking around the main street & courthouse grounds. the main street was dead, but i did finds a cute folksy coffee place.
silver city was a cute little quaint town with old buildings & a pretty busy city center. i enjoyed looking at the old buildings and walking the streets, but there really was not much to do here (just things to see).
h.b. ailman house, the city museum. fun fact, the family who built it were from my area (long beach).
i enjoy learning about city planning and organization (i did play around with the idea of going into city planning but unfortunately find graduate school very unattractive). running through main street in downtown silver city is big ditch trail which is 55 feet lower from the surrounding buildings. this is because the town was prone to floods & a part of main street sunk after a storm in 1895. nature, the ultimate city planner, took care of silver city's flooding problem & created this water runoff, which today is a park.
big ditch trail
a little cabin right outside the visitor center.
i decided to have one last new mexican meal before leaving the state.
my last stop of the day was the town of pinos altos. there is not much here, but that is the charm. like silver city, it was a mining town. it was later abandoned, but is now a living ghost town with some residences and a few establishments. the main street still has buildings from the 1800s, including the opera house turned saloon/restaurant. i thought i would maybe eat there, but as soon as i walked in the whole room (mostly consisting of bikers) looked at me, so i walked out. what can i say. i do not like attention.
pinos altos
i then checked into my motel room. on a side note, i would learn the next day when i was in arizona i left my travel journal under the bed sheets. the owner kindly mailed the journal to my home address. we have been reunited.
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the next day i left pretty early in the morning to get to arizona. thankfully, i earned another hour as i drove through a time change. the first stop was bowie. i almost turned around as i was told to drive down a residential road & then a winding dirt road. this did end up being the right way.
the first creature to greet me in the parking lot was a tarantula. i was very excited. i had heard you could see them in new mexico as it was mating season, but i did not get to see any. i do not have a fear of spiders, especially fuzzy spiders.
he kindly allowed me to take a photo with him.
the walk to the fort bowie visitor center.
in the middle of nowhere arizona is fort bowie. the fort was established in the 1800s to control the local apache. today there are ruins & hikes in the valley. i decided to do a hike, which was eventful. the terrain has hills & grass/plants with very little trees, so it can get very hot with no shade. when i arrived i was the first visitor of the day & did not see anyone until i got back to the visitor center. into the hike i lost track of the trail & was unsure if i was going the right way. i ended up turning around because even though there are no trees, there are tons of shrubs and plants so it is hard to see the trail. it is also not a good idea to go off trail as there are rattlesnakes.
the visitor center. here i tried for the first time buffalo jerky while sitting on a rocking chair. it was good.
the ruins at fort bowie
the terrain. it almost felt like you were on another planet with the rocks & scraggely bushes pictured.