Our Silver City Trip Part 3

This is the third and final installment of our Silver City trip last weekend. On Saturday, we drove up through the Gila Forest to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. On the drive up we passed an area where the National Forest Service was doing a controlled burn. The walk to the cliff dwellings is a pretty neat walk in itself. We drove home through the Mimbres Valley.

That evening we went to the Buckhorn Saloon in Pinos Altos. The Saloon was built in 1865 and is considered the best restaurant in the area - especially for their steaks. We would agree with that. After dinner we went next door to the Pinos Altos Opera House for a performance of "Dumb Guns" 0r "I Got Brains That Jingle, Jangle, Jingle" by the Melodrama Theatre Players. It started with a sing-along followed by a satiric play with a lot of interaction with the audience - including throwing popcorn at the players, hissing and booing at the villain, and cheering the hero.

Here are some pictures from Saturday...

Some of the beautiful scenery on our drive up to the Gila Cliff Dwellings.

Some of the smoking remains of the controlled burn in the early morning sunlight.
A plaque recognizing the birth place of the Apache leader Geronimo who was born somewhere in this area.
Margie and Betty with a super large Yucca at the Visitors Center.
Yours truly at a small bridge on the walk to the Cliff Dwellings.
Betty and Margie looking up to the Cliff Dwellings with binoculars. We decided not to make the hike up to the dwellings as we had a good view from this location.
A view of the Cliff Dwellings.
Margie and Betty entering the Buckhorn Saloon in Pinos Altos.
The Playbill for the Melodrama at the Opera House.
The interior of the Opera House.
The curtain on the Opera House stage (for mature viewers only).
Me and Margie before the play started.
The leader of the sing-along was also the player who was the villain - Bad Bob.
The hero with the young, lovely, heart of gold prostitute (right) and the crusty, older, heart of gold prostitute (left).
The villain, Bad Bob, in compromising dress.
The villain gets his just desserts from the brave town folk led by the hero sheriff.
It was a lot of fun and a great way to end our trip.

Today is October 31 and if today is your Birthday then you share your day with: Peter Jackson (director, "Lord of the Rings"), John Candy (comedian, "Saturday Night Live"), Jane Pauley (Today show host), Deidre Hall (actress, "Days of Our Lives"), David Ogden Stiers (Major Winchester on "M.A.S.H."), Michael Landon (actor, Little Joe on "Bonanza"), Dan Rather (CBS News anchor), Dale Evans (wife of Roy Rogers), Ethel Waters (jazz singer), and Jan Vermeer (Dutch painter).

On this day in 1517 Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenburg church effectively starting the Protestant reformation. In 1864 Nevada became the 36th state. In 1926 magician Harry Houdini died from complications form a ruptured appendix. And in 1984 Israel Prime Minister Indira Ghandi was assassinated.