Well we have been staying in Silver City New Mexico for the last 5 nights.  Before that we were in Cave Creek Arizona, and really enjoyed our stay there.






 While there, we had a lovely dinner with Ted and Cecilia, our daughter in law Brooke's parents at their winter home in Anthum.

 After Cave Creek we moved on to Fountain Hills and had a great time with an old teaching friend Karen Forward and her husband Joe.

 Karen and I spent two days hitting every art gallery in  Scottsdale and Tom and Joe had just as much fun as Karen and I riding bikes.  Karen and Joe live in Eugene Oregon but come down here for the winter. They have a wonderful condo in Fountain Hills and Karen has decorated it in perfect Southwest style.

We left warm Arizona and came over to Silver City, NM.  There was  a lot of snow on the ground as we were driving up here, but no snow has fallen since are arrival.

 It is a very interesting old west minning town with a historical district that unfortunately has fallen on hard times.  Although once billed as one of the top art cities in the country,  about two thirds of the  galleries have gone out of business. We have gone for hikes and exploration road trips. The mountains and countryside are beautiful. Of course, we've spent some time wandering around the town and have found that the people are very friendly and love to talk about the town and surrounding areas.

 On one of our adventure days,  we took a five hour road tour which included crossing an 8000 ft pass,

 beautiful countryside,

the largest copper producing pit mine in North America,

 and the villages of Hillsboro, Kingston and Lake Valley (a ghost town).

Yesterday we drove up to the Gila cliff dwellings...and wahoo I was able to hike to the top [and back]!


 











  Tomorrow we are heading down to McNeal Arizona, near Tombstone, to visit with our friends Craig and Marcia, who live on 40 acres, off the grid [make their own electrical power with solar] and have full hookups for our RV!

More from further on down the road.  I am feeling very good, and we are taking it slow and easy.