Tag Archives: Pinos Altos

Silver City mural

The downtown area of Silver City has some really great architectural details, and lots of colorful street art.

Old brick building with Art Deco lights

Here’s an interesting example of Southwestern colors on a Southwestern style building:

Southwester colors and style

I found this wall particularly fun to photograph:

A lot of diversity symbolism in this piece

Old West imagery — Look for the image of Billy the Kid

A tribute to the Southwest’s Mexican heritage — Culinary, cultural, musical, and religious

And another colorful and interesting building:

Bright and cheerful

Silver City Street Art

As my birthday approached Ursula decided to surprise me this year with a little road trip.  We would be exploring the area in and around college town/art community of Silver City, New Mexico, while staying in a rustic cabin in nearby former mining town of Pinos Altos.  Also on the agenda would be an excursion and hike along the famous, recently reopened Catwalk Trail (all next week) in the Gila National Forest as well as a tasty celebratory dinner at a truly gourmet establishment in Silver City (Fun Food Friday’s extensive restaurant review of Café 1Zero6).

Palace Hotel — Built in 1880; used as a hotel staring in 1900

We took off early Friday afternoon, as we had exclusive dinner reservations in Silver City.  Finding we had time on our hands, we initially bypassed Silver City and headed into the high elevation of Pinos Altos to check in at the Bear Creek Motel and Cabins.  Ours was the charming (outside) but, in our view, overly rustic (inside) Cabin A.

Bear Creek Motel & Cabins; Cabin A

Other cabin residents disagreed with our assessment, as many told us they are frequent guests of Bear Creek.  So, don’t let me dissuade you, as you may really enjoy the Old West ambience.

Palace Hotel — Built in 1880; used as a hotel staring 1900

With still almost an hour to go until our reserved time at 1Zero6, we headed out onto the streets of Silver City for some photo opportunities.  I was not disappointed.

The Art Deco styling of the Murray Hotel