Day 8

Yes, indeed. Another day reliving my vacation. And you thought it was over. Fooled ya, didn't I. So lets start by getting back on the road shall we.

This would have been Saturday, July 28th. We packed up our bags and headed down the road. Our plan for the day is to hit several small "ghost towns." Scary, huh. Along the way though, we passed by Las Cruses, New Mexico (no pit stop, thank God) and headed north. Our first stop was Leasburg Dam State Park.

A swim fest I tell ya. "Where's my swimming suit?" Like it would have done MEEE any good as the water felt pretty cold to me. No deterrent though to a lot of other folks who were having a grand ol time. I did manage to walk in the water around some of the shore and found this little surprise. A large group of spiders that were floating on the water. Take that back . . .

Walking on the water.

We stayed for a while wading a bit longer and engaged in our fare share of people watching.

After that, we headed to Caballo Lake State Park. We found a picnic table overlooking the lake and loading dock.

A short drive away was Percha Dam State Park.

Some algae sloshing around in the water.



That was some R-n-R I tell ya. Now on to the main attraction - Ghost Towns. The primary interest: Chloride. This was a small town that cropped up around the 1870's as a result of a silver mining rush. The town ballooned to around 3000 residents in its heyday. The demise of the town came some years later when the government changed its money standard from silver to gold. The price of silver plummeted. Since the town did not have railroad service yet (all goods where brought in via wagon), it became too costly to not only get the silver out of town, but also to mine it in the first place. The highlight of this place was the general store.

This place is really a post onto it's own, so I'll leave it for another day. The pic above is just to whet your appetite.

As we headed home (it was a late night I tell ya) I just had to pull over for this shot of the moon passing through the clouds.


And alas, that ends my wonderful vacation. Yes, it's over [sniffle sniffle]. It was a good time for all. I'll come back another time with Chloride. Most all the pics center around that general store. What a neat place. Until then, I hope you have had plenty of vacation memories and perhaps gotten in the mood to plan your own adventure in the near future.

Cheers All!
Mighty