Silver City, NM!

Owen and I took a long weekend to go see his mom who lives in Silver City, NM.  It is only about a 10 hour drive so we thought we might as well go for an adventure and get out of the city.  He did most of the driving and I did most of the bossing around/sleeping-it was a perfect arrangement. 

Silver City is actually famous- it's the hometown of Billy the Kid, who went by "William Bonney" back in the day. The town itself has a lot of character from both Native American and Mexican influences. 

Ellen met us right outside of town because she was certain that GPS wouldn't be able to find her house...she was right!

Ellen knew that  I loved mining and mining culture and took us to see a very large, active, open mine. This is the Santa Rita Mine.  The colors were amazing- the picture doesn't do it justice, as it is both beautiful and devastating at the same time.

Billy the Kid's replica cabbin

Ellen took us hiking to show us the landscape, which is very different from CA and from MT.  

Big Cholla Cactus

Juan Pablo,  the Cholla  we brought home from NM, is sprouting new arms!

The mountains in the far back are mountains in Mexico!

While we were there, the Broncos were playing and Owen decided that he had to do all think is groups of 18, since 18 is Payton Manning's number.  So, he ate 18 pieces of toast and cleaned out a jar of peanut butter.

The next morning we had to leave very early, so Ellen cut his toast in to 18 pieces...so much more practical :)