Saturday Saunterings

If you are ever in Deming, New Mexico and you are wanting Mexican food, Amigo's is the go to place!  Doris has known about this hole in the wall for a long time.  It doesn't look like much, but the food is good and beyond cheap!

The lunch plates were $4.00.  I was so surprised at this I even asked the lady behind the counter if the prices were correct.  Compare this to most Mexican food restaurants where the combination plates go for $9-$12.00.  The hard part was deciding which one to get.  I would up with the red and pork tamales that came with beans and rice.

As we perused the items on the wall, I noticed the price of a dozen tamales.  My goodness!  Not the $24 a dozen that we pay for tamales in Phoenix!  Boy, I wish this place was located in Arizona. Time to load up on some frozen tamales, chili rellenos or maybe some enchiladas to take back home.

Since we were on a southwestern kick, our next stop was to pick up a chili ristra for our back porch from a local market.  There were plenty to choose from, in many different lengths.

Here is the one I finally wound up with.

In addition, there were all sorts of pumpkins, gourds and bags of chilies here too.

 This gourd looked like the side view of a duck to me.

 Huge bags containing red chili peppers lined the concrete floor outside.  One of those would be enough to keep me in enchilada sauce for years!

Our last stop for the day was City of Rocks State Park.

My priority at this point in time was a bathroom break.  Guess what was on the inside of the bathroom door?  You couldn't miss it!

 Yikes!  I was glad the weather was cooler, so the snakes were less apt to be out in the campground.

One of Doris' stepsons was camping out here with his family and friends for the weekend.  There were no kids in sight.....all of them were out scampering on the huge boulders.  This campground sure is different from Boyd Lake State Park in Colorado.  It might be appealing to many people, but the thought of rattlesnakes around is disturbing to me.  Just typing this and thinking about snakes just gave me the shivers.

All in all, we had a wonderful day, meandering around the Deming and Silver City area.

No Whining at the Winery

Did Saint Clair, who is an Italian saint, like wine?  Since she died in 1253, there is absolutely no way of asking her.  But her name lives on in Deming, New Mexico.   The St. Clair winery is one of Doris' favorite places to visit when she's in New Mexico.  After all, you can't be within a 100 miles and not make a special stop for good wine at inexpensive prices.

Okay, it's barely 10 AM and the group is all set for wine tasting (except me.....I picked out a bottle of black cherry soda to sip on).  For some reason, I'm always picked as the "DD" or designated driver.  Maybe you were thinking delusional dingbat, but you'd be wrong.......

Doris, Don and Sandy check out the beautiful bottles of a sweet dessert wine.  We ended up with the bottle that had the Mexican adobe house on it.  Right now, it's sitting on our kitchen hutch, empty.  It didn't last long on Saturday night after being opened.  After all, there were seven of us sipping on it. 

Jeff and Erica contemplated the complexities of the wine.  They are true connoisseurs of the fermented grape.

They were at one end of the tasting bar while Doris, Don, Jerry and Sandy were at the other.  There was room (and enough wine) for everyone.  Plates of small snacks are available too if you want to nibble in between tasting wine.

Cheers!  Prost!  Skal!  Salute!  Bottoms Up!

Silver Revisited

Friday afternoon found us wandering around in downtown Silver City once again.  A few of the group tried out the Little Toad Brewery and Distillery while Doris and I roamed around the stores nearby.  Soon, all of us were hungry, and we headed to the Jalisco Café for Mexican food.

If you like HOT chili sauce, you would love this place.  The menu even has a disclaimer on the top that warns that both the red chili and green chili are hot/spicy/mouth-burning, etc.  Jeff (Jerry's son) loves hot food and his forehead was sweating by the time he was finished.  Us old folks were not as adventuresome and stuck with the taco trio.  At least our tongues still had taste buds on them!

After dinner, we all walked across the bridge and found an old log cabin near the visitor center.  Even though it was a replica, it is still interesting that Billy the Kid lived in this location many, many years ago.

We did manage to find the grave of Billy the Kid's mother a few days later as we walked around the Memory Lane Cemetery.

Can you imagine being a parent and trying to deal with a teenage boy like this?  Yikes!  Ordinary teenagers are enough of a challenge.  Billy was already in trouble with the law and a federal fugitive by the time he was 16.  I can almost hear her say "Billy, if I told you once, I told you a thousand times, don't play with guns!".   Maybe she forgot to mention rifles....

So that is your history lesson for today.   For our Arizona friends, Silver City is just a short day's drive from Phoenix.  Maybe it's time for you to visit this interesting and quaint town in southwestern New Mexico.

Silver hair and Silver City

All 3 RV's arrived safe and sound at Rose Valley RV Ranch in Silver on Wednesday.  There will be one more trailer for our group arriving on Friday.  We all have nice views out our back windows.

First on our list to do is going to downtown Silver.  It's an old mining town, so there is a lot of history and interesting buildings.  As you can see, there isn't much traffic on the street, and I was able to step into the road to get a photo.

I cajoled the other 4 into stopping for a picture on the bridge over the Big Ditch Riverwalk Park.

And this is the same 4, in 2008:

The guys still are wearing their hats, but the hairstyles have changed for both Doris and Sandy! 

When we get to old towns, it seems I am always taking pictures of the historic buildings.  Not only  are they are intrinsically more interesting, they usually have a lot more details than ones built in the last 20-30 years.

One old building had different paintings on the side wall that were quite interesting, with references to famous (and infamous) people that were in the area.  The one below includes a picture of Billy the Kid.  His mother is buried in the cemetery right next to the RV park.

More adventures to come.   Keep tuned in!

Salida

In September, as we headed home early to Phoenix, we stopped overnight in Salida, Colorado.  I loved walking around this historic town because the old downtown area has been kept up and restored.  Most of the buildings are occupied with different types of shops and restaurants.  Yes, as the sign on the building says....we did enjoy Salida!

For example, look at the details on this building built in the 19th century.

And the former gas station being turned into a café and a barber shop.

Cute flowers on the sidewalk in a very old metal baby stroller greeted residents and visitors.

A pair of gargoyles still hovered over the old U.S. mail building.

Where else could I find a metal alligator hanging from the side of a building?

To me, it's a lot more interesting walking around here than any mall I've been in.  So next time, if you pass through Colorado, make this one of your stops!

Blogging and the Big Headache!

My blog took a short hiatus during the month of September.

I wanted to post...
Tried to do a post....
And failed!

My new laptop seems to be confused and the settings for my blog keeps changing every few days!  One day it came up in Arabic.  There was no way I could even sign in that way.  The next time it was set back to English (but in the United Kingdom) and another time it came up as a Canadian blog!  Good grief!   Tried to change settings, but they would revert right back.  Double Ugh!

Thanks to Jerry White for figuring out a work around so I could FINALLY do some new posts!

Biker Babe

Biker Babe, you say?  You must be off your rocker!  You are way, way, too old to be labeled as a "babe" !  Okay, maybe I should just call myself a recycled cycler!  Anyway, both Don are still enjoying our non motorized bike rides in Colorado. 

Recently we tried out another portion of the Poudre Trail between Ft. Collins and Laporte.

We started out in Ft. Collins and stopped to check to see exactly where we were on the board by the trail about the halfway point, after passing by farms with mountains in the background.

Loved the ride through lightly wooded areas since it gave us some shade as it got warmer.

I could feel the bumpy boards as we biked over this long bridge that had multiple turns as it passed over the Poudre River.

Our ride ended up that morning right across from one of Colorado's famous buildings....New Belgium Brewery.  And no, we didn't stop for a beer, instead opting for a great burrito from the Rainbow Restaurant.

 Mmm...I could almost smell the burritos and coffee as we get near the entrance!  Besides being good, the price was right, only $5.00 each for a bacon, egg and potato burrito and a coffee.  Perfect for our late breakfast (or early lunch).

This week, we did a different portion of the Poudre Trail in Windsor, enjoying the views of the lake and the resident pelican calmly floating around in the cold water.

As we passed by the community garden maintained by volunteers ,

we noticed this sign:

Good thing we both carry our own water bottles. I don't think it would have been a good idea to try and take a sip out of one of their sprinklers.