Living in Silver City with Kids

[jjmojo]

I lived in Silver area for a short time 20+ years ago but caught a ride to SFe then fell in love with the dynamics of NNM. I returned to Silver 2 years ago and found it to be much the same as I'd remembered. The advantages are the Gila, the nice but small food co-op if you're into organics, and it seemed like hippy kids could still hang out there and do whatever it is that hippy kids do in the surrounding hills.
Disadvantage is primarily isolation so you'd really want to love it there, hard Chihuahuan desert to the south; a long loop drive to lonely high plains towns in the north; vast Arizona boonies to the west; and a deceptively long drive to I-25 and beyond, if you start craving city amenities.
On the other hand the short loop around the area had a lot of neat old ranching and mining "ghost" type towns/old West cabins, etc to check out. And the whole immediate area is beautiful if you like day tripping and camping.
Another thing I liked is the Spanish people in Silver seemed very friendly to wandering anglos, which i didn't always find everywhere in nm. One thing I didn't like was the huge pit mine outside of town and wondered about air quality, disruption to Mother Earth, etc. Just kind of seemed like a sad place, somehow, although the people were all pretty friendly and the cops seemed pretty chill as far as that goes. There were the usual crazy characters and scruffy drunk guys on bicycles like you find everywhere in nm, even on the santa fe plaza lol.
Btw i'm not dissing on the mine i made friends with an old miner in the sort of bedroom town of hurley who since passed, it's just not my preference, tho a lot of people seem to like stopping at the view point and taking pictures, it's a pretty awe-inspiring sight.
I wouldn't worry about crime in Silver City, I never got a bad vibe there, just kind of an empty one, albeit happy enough. I still think about the area and hope I can make it back there someday and spend some more time soaking up the good vibes.

[Rogarven]

I would be concerned about health care , especially if you are retired and need specialists. I would agree that it is a beautiful and quaint town. Hope it doesn't turn into another Sedona or Taos .