August 3-4, 2025: Gila Cliffs NM, New Mexico

This park is approximately two hours north of Silver City, New Mexico, which is approximately two hours west of Las Cruces i.e. four hours away from anything and any other sites. So while this one stamp took an entire weekend, we made a good trip of it with staying at the authentically rustic Bear Creek Lodge, dinner at the 1860s era Buckhorn Lodge and Opera House.

As for the Cliffs themselves, we did the short one-mile hike where Monty did walk for a good 50 feet before insisting on being picked up while Morgan was a trooper and kept Goldie in her arms the entire time. The park offers "kennels" on a first come, first serve basis, that turned out to be just metal cages shaded by trees. Millie was not happy being left, but we really wanted to walk in the ruins, and it was definitely worth it.

"My legs don't work" became a common refrain of the hike. Oregon Trail hearty he is not.

The owl could not have cared less about us.

Silver City itself was small but neat. Unlike a lot of off-the-path towns, it still has a functioning Main Street. While perusing at an antique store, we ran into one of the gentleman who owns the store and learned of his role finding a stolen Willem De Kooning painting, The Woman-Ochre. For being a true crime fan and an art buff, this story was a complete blind spot for me but in 1985, a couple went to the University of Arizona Art Museum the day after Thanksgiving and cut the De Kooning painting from its frame. The crime remained unsolved until the couple passed on, and their kids asked the estate sale service to come haul away all of their belongings. Once back at the antique store, somebody recognized the signature and the owners called the FBI, and sure enough in the middle of nowhere New Mexico, a 100-million-dollar-plus stolen painting was located. It's a wild enough story that it was turned into a movie which we watched (and was just okay) called the The Thief Collector.

While we ended up not finding a De Kooning at the antique store, I did find a valuable piece of art there that shows sophistication, class, and timeliness. Even better, despite her young age, Goldie already seems engrossed by this majestic artwork.