Exploring Around Cerrillos

 

The other day, Jeff, Miki (our German Shepherd) and I decided to explore an area we hadn’t yet traveled near what is considered a ghost town, Cerrillos, here in New Mexico.  Now, Cerrillos does have people living in it, but it has far fewer than it did in its hey-day.  Still, the area we were exploring lies just to the northwest of Cerrillos, where we hoped to find fossils.

In A Valley

Millions and millions of years ago, the area of New Mexico was covered by water, and there have been fossils of sea life found in this area.  Seems rather hard to believe of what is now the high desert.  We’ve had a fairly good monsoon season this year, and it’s looking rather green for the desert – however, nothing close to land close to the sea!

On His Turf

When we turned into the first area where fossils have been found in the past, we were greeted by some cattle instead of fossils!  The bull (above) kept a close eye on us, altho he never quite seemed incline to charge us!  I found the 2 little calves (below) especially charming, as their fear could not quite keep their curiosity in check!

Peeking

Miki Exploring

When we reached as far as we felt we could safely drive in, and where there was some evidence of shale, we stopped and Miki took off for some exploring of her own.  She always seems to pick some truly scenic areas to check out!

Searching for Fossils

It wasn’t too long, tho, before she decided to join her dad, my hubby, Jeff, in his search for fossils.  The day was growing warm, but Jeff was very diligent in his search.  This was our first attempt at this, so none of us was entirely certain of what we were doing.

Simple Pleasures

I deferred to Jeff in the fossil-hunting activity, and decided to focus on other treasures that were around.  One of these were these beautiful little daisies.  They were growing along the side of a hill, and I was able to position myself to capture this nice perspective of them.

Smart Pup

After a while, Miki decided the sun was a bit much for her, and took cover in some nearby shade.  However, she always keeps an eye on Jeff – she wouldn’t want to be left behind in case he found something cool!

Dried Blooms

Unfortunately, we didn’t find any fossils on this day, but I did find another interesting perspective of some dried blooms.  They sort of reminded me of Queen Anne’s Lace, but that’s not what these were – perhaps a variety of them?

Driving the Backroads

As long as we were on a road we’d not traveled before, we thought we continue to explore driving down it.  What was interesting about this road was that it continued on as a dirt road for about 5 ½ miles.  Then, it turned into a paved road, just in time to intersect with a major highway!

Thou Shalt Not

This is a common site along the backroads of New Mexico.  Ranchers wanted to be sure to let you know that they were not open to unannounced visitors trespassing on their property.  And, why waste money paying for a “no trespassing” sign, when one has some old tires and white paint?  Can you imagine calling the view behind the tire sign your property?

End of Day

After we got home, and were relaxing after the day’s explorations, we were rewarded with a lovely sunset!  Such a nice way to end the day!

Enjoy!