Our first anniversary sprinted toward us!

Jon and I recently celebrated our one-year wedding anniversary by going to (drumroll please … ) Silver City, New Mexico! “Where?” you ask. That was the exact same question I blurted out when Jon first mentioned this obscure possibility for our then-upcoming anniversary getaway weekend.

Lacking any other riveting alternatives within our budget and allotted time off work, we did indeed pack our bags and embark on a 3.5-hour road trip to none other than Silver City. An uber-tiny locale in southwest New Mexico, Silver City was a booming mining town in the late 1800s, with gold and silver in “them thar hills.” It’s uber-tiny present status is because those gold and silver booms can only last so long, then everyone moves on (like 100 years ago).

A magical cottage

Our first stop in the “Land of Enchantment”: The Cottage of the Whispering Pines, which would be our resting place for three nights. Wanting a quaint, cozy getaway different from the typical, my mind’s eye had pictured a cozy cottage or log cabin. So when I saw the Cottage of the Whispering Pines online, I fell in love with it immediately. And it was even more endearing in person.

The Cottage of the Whispering Pines: The proprietors say it was a miner's home built in the 1950s that was moved (I guess the foundations weren't ultra-secured back then) and renovated somewhat.

A large parlor in the cottage - it's all about the decorating details. On the furniture there is an old-fashioned knitted throw.

... and in the parlor's corner, check out that ultra-vintage phone and decor. I so loved this place.

The guest bedroom - this cottage was so large that two couples or a large family could have stayed there.

Again, it's all about the decorating details. Does this look familiar, a la "Titanic"? OK Leonardo DiCaprio didn't come for a visit, but this place was so vintage!

The master bedroom - The proprietors were so creative in their decor that they used an old door turned sideways as this board's headboard. But it really "works" visually.

The weekend we were here, it was in the 60s in the mornings and got into the 40s at night. This completely sunlit sitting room was definitely the warmest place in the house and was where we ate breakfast every morning.

An inside view of part of the sitting room. It was very spacious!

Melding natural and historical works with spiritual perks

Full day 1: After 8 hours of shuteye, we headed to our exciting first destination – after a trip to the Walmart Superstore to get some sustenance. (Since Silver City and the surrounding areas are all extremely tiny and devoid of entertainment other than taverns and saloons, we weren’t surprised when our cottage’s proprietor described the Super Walmart as being “like the mall” to locals.)

The next stop: the “catwalk.” (OK that infectious yet hilarious ‘80s tune “Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred comes to mind every time I say that, both now and on the trip.) So the catwalk forged steel walkway was over a very sexy canyon with a stream that burst in some places and only trickled in others. An easy 2-mile roundtrip hike, this was just my speed and height – not too much opportunity for freefall here, as the catwalk was only maybe 15 feet above the nature over which it hovered. The only drawback: It was a 3-hour roundtrip drive. In other words, it took us nearly as long to drive there and back as it would have for us to drive home to Arizona! But who wants to do that? The rest of the evening: Even more driving to see local sights and downtown Silver City.

The sexy catwalk canyon

The canyon is still sexy after hours in front of the camera, and never needed a touchup.

On the catwalk. By the way, I have a sweater tied around my waist that makes it look like I've gained quite a few pounds, but it's the dark sweater that blends in with my pants, FYI. I can just hear it now, "Hey look, she's already gaining weight after marriage!" ha ha ...

And the final stop: a full-on, no-holds-barred pork-out session, literally, at Jaliscos Café. Jon devoured most of the pork carnitas appetizer while I slurped up a large bowl of tortilla soup. Then I devoured some cheese enchiladas while Jon put away a 3-course meal including enchilada, chili rellano, and something else undoubtedly gooey, high-fat, and high-cal (and isn’t that really the best kind of food?). All the while, we both drank multiple glasses of root beer to water it all down. Needless to say, we were literally in pain as we walked out the restaurant doors about 1.5 hours later. I don’t know that I have EVER eaten that much, and it was the same for Jon. As I said, there’s not much to do in Silver City at night, so I guess we substituted our food and root beer for the real thing going on in the taverns and saloons so abundant there.

Full day 2 – our actual anniversary date, Oct. 29^th: After getting a late start (I tend to piddle around every morning and make me and others late for anything and everything; not sure why this natural phenomenon has always occurred), we decided to head to Pinos Altos (or “tall pines”), a town of 300 people. There was supposed to be an opera house, but upon further investigation, it was part of the local saloon (color me surprised), thus we opted to leave that one as a nix after calling and being told the opera house’s two main functions – at least for that evening – were drinking intermingled with the locals singing tunes … and don’t forget the alcohol.

However, Pinos Altos did have a museum that we went to that morning. I was expecting a large, multi-room modern museum containing rows and rows of sky-high shelves of historical items. Alternatively, the Pinos Altos museum comprised only two small rooms … so I had to adjust my expectations. But the good news is that the museum’s contents were respectable and interesting, though few in number. My favorites were the 1945 newspapers announcing the end of World War II, the 2-foot wide pump organ adorned with religious hymn books, and the many flavors of old phonographs and sewing machines. The larger room of the museum was actually an old schoolhouse. It was originally built in log-cabin style and still is, though it has been reinforced a bit.

The Pinos Altos Museum was tiny but had some intriguing old-time sewing machines, phonographs, hand-pumped organ, and much more.

The museum had this authentic 1945 newspaper announcing the cessation of World War II.

Next stop: The Gila Cliff Dwellings. Since this was going to be a 2-hour drive each way (our relationship with our truck reached a new depth during this trip), we opted to eat lunch first. Again, I was stunned to walk into a local restaurant and find that the entire restaurant was one large room, probably 12 x 20 feet, with only 5 tables. In keeping with the Pinos Altos/Silver City look and feel, the restaurant was a log-cabin-type design and was quite cute and quaint, though I was floored by its tiny size and limited seating. Our waitress was a spitfire. She greeted everyone personally. It was obvious it was a small town where everyone knew each other. My cheeseburger with all the trimmings was great. We heard a gentleman teasing our waitress while she was in the back room about the deep dish pie’s crust or lack of it, and it was only when we received our portions that we knew why: The crust was a 3” diameter piece of (transparent) dough (note I said “dough” not “crust,” because “crust” would imply it was actually cooked!) put on the top center of the cup containing commercial fruit pie filling. So again, it’s all about the expectations.

On the road again: We arrived at the Gila Cliff Dwellings site some time later, and then footed it about 1 mile to the cave dwellings. Tourists are permitted inside the dwellings, which consist of “rooms” separated by rock-wall partitioning of sorts. The dwellings and rooms were completely devoid of any vegetation, which makes me suspect the forest rangers are doing a little yardwork. OK, the rake marks were also a dead giveaway. But it was a very interesting place. Hey, if I had to live outdoors 24/7, I’d choose a place like that too, warmed in the summer via direct sunlight and cooled in the summer via shade, as touted by the promotional film we watched before entering the caves.

Hey, if you had to live outside 24/7, wouldn't this be a smart place to do so, away from people and wild animals (assuming those aren't one in the same) and cooled in the summer and sunned in the winter?

Jon in one of the "rooms" or partitioned sections within the cliff dwellings.

And the final (sightseeing) stop of day 2: Racing against Mother Nature’s clock, i.e. the sun would be going down in about an hour, we drove again … this time to the "City of Rocks." The City of Rocks is a naturally occurring congregation of huge vertical rocks. What’s unusual is that they are like a crop of rocks all bunched together like a village in the middle of a seemingly endless, unvegetated, uninhabited, flat, desolate desert. These rocks are kinda fun to climb up on though, particularly for height phobes like myself, as their slopes are gradual and easy to scale. We got there just in the nick of time, running up some rocks and snapping a few quick photos before the day drew its curtain of darkness on us. We capped off the evening with dinner at a local buffet, Asian style (Jon’s favorite type of food), followed by a half-hour session of perusing the greeting cards at … the Walmart Superstore. Hey, it’s the most entertaining thing happening within Silver City itself. I was absolutely thrilled when Jon found a musical Centipede greeting card, which he purchased to give me on my next birthday ... in 50 weeks from the time of purchase. (Remember that 80s arcade game? It's always remained my all-time favorite ...)

The City of Rocks stands alone in the middle of an otherwise flat, barren desert.

Fabulous view before the sun went down.

Jon's GQ pose in the City of Rocks

Full (and final) day 3: Church in Silver City. Hard to believe that such an extremely unpopulous (at least by appearance, though it reportedly has a population of 10,500) area would have two wards, so we rolled the dice (and slept in) and ended up at the ward that met later in the day. Numerous warm and welcoming people introduced themselves to us. I’ve seen friendly wards before, but this probably rated No. 1 in that regard. It sure was refreshing. Demographics of the area are primarily empty nesters and retirees, as there’s not much industry there, except if you work at the Walmart or one of the (maybe) two restaurants or (perhaps) four fast food restaurants in town – or one of the touristy shops selling cowboy clothing or Indian blankets.

Back to the real world
Thus concluded our first-ever anniversary festivities. We drive home to Arizona after church, and because it was much lighter than our dark drive into Silver City, we actually enjoyed the topography of the Land of Enchantment as our tires gripped the road.

It truly had been an enchanting getaway weekend with my fabulous husband, away from the routine, demands, and “busyness” of everyday life. We didn’t have cell phone coverage during the vast majority of the trip, which was part of what made the weekend so refreshing.

Well I’ve got to hurry and get this post to go live on our blog so you can read it on your cell phones!  ;)