Day 15 (Friday, July 9th) Gila Cliff Dwellings, NM

We drove from Las Cruces to Silver City this morning. We set up the trailer as fast as we could and left for the Gila Cliff Dwellings, (pronounced hee-la) hoping to make it in time for the guided tour. Thank goodness John had all that police driver training because the road up there was a narrow nightmare of twists and turns with no center line and no guardrails. Both boys got queasy and Tyler threw up out the window. Incidentally, we crossed over the Continental Divide during the drive. We made it to the parking lot and found out we had to hike a 1/2 mile to where the tour started, 175 ft. above where we parked. It's a good thing we're all in good shape because we practically had to run up the trail to get there in time for the guided tour. It was worth it because the Park Service Interpreter gave us so much information and history that we wouldn't have otherwise known. The most amazing thing was that at this cliff dwelling, we were allowed to walk up and go inside the site. At other cliff dwellings, you can only look at them from the outside and listen to lectures. It was incredible to see the ruins from the inside. The amazing thing is that they were built over 700 years ago and were still intact until 100 years ago. At that time, American settlers burned them out to prevent them from being used by the Apache indians. What a loss! These dwellings were occupied by 40-60 people. The dwellings consist of a bunch of small rooms constructed from native stone built across the front of a large deep cave. There's a spring fed stream in the deep valley below the ruins that never ran dry. The valley is rich with animals and dozens of edible native plants. The guys enjoyed the narration and all the climbing. Tyler even agreed that it was worth our rushed trip up the mountain. Needless to say, we chose a different route to drive back down and although it was about 25 miles longer, it was a much easier drive. It was a tough day because we combined a driving day with a sightseeing day. Regardless, we had a little time at the pool after we returned to the campsite and were none the worse for wear.

Tomorrow, we'll have a nice breakfast prepared by the campground owners and then we'll head out for Tuscon, Arizona, the 11th state of our trip.