Travel week from Tucson to Canyon Lake, TX

Before we left Tucson, we visited the Desert Museum

The Museum is at the foot of the mountains

with beautiful flowers

desert creatures

 and there was a raptor show with...

a Grey Hawk

a Barn Owl

a group of Harris Hawks

one handicapped Blue Herron

and a room full of hummingbirds.

As we left Tucson, we headed east on I-10 and came upon Texas Canyon and this rest stop

with these incredible rock formations

with Jodi here to emphasize the size of these things

and this view of the variety of color.

On down the road, we stopped in Deming, New Mexico and spent a day travelling north into the Gila (pronounced Heela) Mountains.

It took almost 3 hours to make the 95 mile trip into the mountains

but the view was well worth the effort.

Our eventual goal was the Cliff Dwellings

where we walked across the bridge over this creek

and began the 45 minute hike up the mountain to see the dwellings which you can barely see at the tips of the green trees

but as we get closer, the caves are just ahead

and this is proof that Jodi made the hike, too.

The natives built stone houses inside these caves @ 700 years ago

and although heavily looted over the years, remain remarkably intact.

with evidence of petrofied corn cobs lying around.

The caves provided protection from foes but more importantly, from weather extremes.

We were amazed at the access we had to these ruins.

And then the hike back down the ladders

and down the mountainside

toward the Ranger station back across the creek.

As we bid farewell to the Gila Mountains, rich colors are evident and we're heading on down the road to Canyon Lake, Texas.