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17 June 2024 – Trip Day 78

18 June 2024 – Trip Day 79

Ed: This entry is a bit different, as we visited the same site over two days as we were split up. Alan and Evan visited the site on the 18th.

Today we relocated from Albuquerque to Farmington, New Mexico. The drive was pretty straight forward. Along the way, there was a sign for the Aztec National Monument and Meagan took a detour there with the kids.

Stopping for gas at the Sinclair station. We dubbed them the ‘Stinky’ stations because when Jarek was a toddler, he got a stuffed dinosaur from one of them on a cross country move and it was named ‘Stinky”.

Set up in the site. Not much greenery and lots of pavement and stone. It was very hot here as well, regularly in the 100s.

A map depicting the Chocoan or Pueblo culture sites. The sites, depending on where you got, have various names attributed to them.

Approaching the Great Kiva.

Unlike the smaller kivas, which were normally entered through a ladder in the roof, the Great Kiva had stairwell that went down into it.

Evan stands in the restored Great Kiva for a sense of scale.

The roof of the Great Kiva.

The Great Kiva from the outside.

Jarek and Arya work on their books inside the Great Kiva while Randal looks on.

A nice cool place to run around – awesome!

The site contains other kivas as well, but not at the same scale as the Great Kiva.

Part of the structure was available to walk through. These were the doorways used by the Puebloans to connect rooms. It was thought that these were more for air flow than for people movement, as the assignment / ownership of rooms tended to run from the front of the building straight back, and would be accessed from the roof, although occasionally they would have doors facing the plaza.

Randal approved!

Offered a choice of style, Evan picks out his Junior Ranger badge.

Evan got a milkshake as a Daddy Day treat on the way back home.

Meanwhile, back at the RV, Jarek and Garrett process lemons to make lemonade.

Beating the heat, I set up the stove outside to cook tacos for dinner. We’ve really leveraged the outside cooking with the RV. There is only so much heat capacity that the ACs can remove, and once you put in the heat energy from cooking dinner, it takes a long time, and only after it cools down / the Sun goes down do we recover.

Of course with the desert heat, night is the best time to be outside. Randal plays while Garret has gotten a hold of a phone and proceeds to take many, many candid photos.

A contemplative selfie…

Out for a midnight bike ride.

Randal does his new favorite thing – putting things into things. One of our best toys – a cardboard box and some gravel rocks!

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16 June 2024 – Trip Day 77

We drove north of Albuquerque to Bernallio where the Coronado Historic Site is located. This is a Pueblo culture site that Meagan and I have been to before and wanted to bring the kids to. The unique thing about this site is that the kiva has been partially repainted to reflect what was found. Normally the kivas have been found without drawings/paintings or they were burned when the Puebloans abandoned the site. When this site was excavated, it was found intact with multiple layers of paintings on the kiva walls.

Although a state run site, they did have a Junior Ranger program as well. The kids got to work on their books before our tour.

To access the kiva and see the wall art, you need to take a guided tour. We arranged to arrive early enough to get on a tour – which was an accomplishment in itself!

Behind the group, you can see the door which contains some of the actual kiva paintings up for display. They requested no photography of the kiva paintings, so if you’d like to see them you’ll need to go there!

The rest of the paintings are apparently in a basement of the University of New Mexico.

After checking out the paintings, we went out on a tour of the complex. The site had rebuilt and continues to partially rebuild the walls with adobe bricks to show the layout of the site.

A view of the many rooms of the site.

The site also rebuilt a structure so visitors could have an idea of what the rooms were like. Ducky was all about checking it out!

A perfect kid sized room! We need one or two of these…didn’t work so well for Alan or Meagan though!

Afterward, we continued on the path around the site checking out the rest of the ruins. We did go into the big kiva, but again, no pictures of the insides.

After our tour, we had lunch on the patio.

There was a sand bin with some track stamps in it, and the kiddos were all about it, especially Randal.

Books complete, they turned them in for their badge and stamps.

We spotted some kayakers travelling down the Rio Grande. Surprisingly it had a decent amount of water in it. In past years during the summer it was often reduced to a muddy ditch.

Back at the coloring table for some more coloring!

After we were done, we hung out for a bit then drove out to the Sandia Peak Tramway.

We got to the Tram and had to wait a bit to catch a tram up to the top. Meagan and the kids checked out the little museum at the waiting area.

Loaded up and ready to go!

As we climbed up the mountain side, we were rewarded with scenic views of Albuquerque and Rio Rancho.

Up at the top of the Sandia Mountains, we got a spectacular view of the North side.

There was a parasailer flying about when we got up there.

Family photo at the top! A bit nerve-wracking as to our left (right in the photo) was the glider launch ramp and some fairly steep drop offs.

After a bit of a wait, we were able to get seated in the casual seating area of the restaurant.

Shenanigans!

Unfortunately, we were rather disappointed. Meagan and I had been to the restaurant several times before when we lived in the Albuquerque area, and were generally satisfied with it. However, since it was redone, and since COVID, it has gone down hill. The food was very expensive and we ended up ordering the kids chicken strips (which was reasonable) and we settled on a piece of cake for ourselves. The cake was very dry and not good and we ended up sending it back. All of the rest of the food on the menu was vastly overpriced for what it was.

We did get some amazing sunset shots, though.

Family with Albuquerque and Rio Rancho in the background. Poor Evan was doing his best impression as a popsicle once the Sun went down and temperatures started dropping.

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14 June 2024 – Trip Day 75

We drove out west to visit El Malpais National Monument (Spanish for the badlands or the bad country). It was a pretty easy drive on I-40 west. We stopped for gas in Grants, NM and were greeted with a freak hailstorm.

Aside with the hail there was quite a bit of rain. We were waiting at a gas station for a while, figuring that the people there were hiding from the rain and not moving, but that was not the case. The pumps at that gas station were running very slowly, like the station was out of gas. We relocated to a different gas station and were able to fill up and get back on the road.

 Jarek speaks with the Ranger about his Junior Ranger book. We printed off the books ahead of time.

 El Malpais was considered bad lands by the Spanish because their horses did not do well and there was not much water on the land. The area consists of numerous lava flows, with some comparatively recent. They are connected with several other sites of volcanic activity in New Mexico.

There was not much in the way of a museum here. the kids turned in their books and received their badges. We planned to come back later for the evening hike out to watch the bats fly out of one of the lava caves.

The clouds that rained and hailed on us earlier threatened to do it again.

We quickly packed up and headed out to El Morro National Monument, hoping to get there before they closed.

 We did get there just in the nick of time for the kids to get their stuff turned in. They had a little museum that was nice, but we weren’t able to take the trail as they closed the park and controlled access to the site.

 El Morro (the headland) was a stop for early travelers with reliable water. The trail access stopped an hour before the site closed.

The drive out was very scenic and I hope to get to that video soon!

We drove back toward El Mapais and stopped at the El Calderon trail head where the hike would start at. We hung out and ate our lunch/dinner and the kids played a bit while we killed some time.

Randal enjoys his dinner with a smile!

Alan helps Evan finish his book. We would give the kids extra rewards if they did their whole activity book rather than what was required for their age group.  

 On the hike with the Ranger. We stopped at a lava tube formation where he explained how they formed. Jarek also asked many questions.

 Back on the trail while the Sun sets.

 Desert thistles taking advantage of the rain.

Our view of the bat cave.

 Waiting for the bats! I don’t have any pictures of the bats due to the low light. I do have a video of the hike and of some of the bats, which you can see here at this post.

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13 June 2024 – Trip Day 74

We drove out to Bandelier National Monument today. This was about a 2 hours away from Albuquerque up by Santa Fe.

This is one of the more popular sites that we’ve been to.

 We arrived and were able to find parking and managed to avoid the shuttle requirement. We had lunch in the picnic area while the kids worked on their books.

 Ducky got his own hat – he was very happy with it!

The site was a short hike from the visitor center. It was a very hot day, but we pressed on anyway.

 A view of one of the large kivas on the valley bottom below the housing areas.

 Meagan checks the pocket guide for information on some of the ruins as we work our way up the path.

 Pressing onward up the trail.

 The trail leads up to the base of the cliffs where ladders are placed at some of the caves so you may climb up and have a look around.

 Petroglyphs on the wall where rooms once stood. The small holes in the rock face are where support beams would have been inserted to form roofs and walls. The trail along the cliff face was very narrow and required deft footing to successfully navigate.

 After we checked out the cliff dwellings, we continued on down the trail to Alcove House.

 Alcove House sits about 140 feet above the canyon floor and required navigating a series of ladders to climb up to it.

 After the first ladder is a short ‘path’ up the hillside to the next ladder.

 Meagan was at the top of the ladder, while Alan waited at the bottom of the ladder.

 Family photo at the top in Alcove House.

 The kiva

 After exploring the Alcove House, we returned to the visitor center. Randal was very excited about being out of his pack pack and being able to walk!

The kids turned in their books and received their badges for being a Junior Ranger. After that, since we were close, we headed over to Los Alamos to see if we could get the Manhattan Project National Historic Park as well.

The Manhattan Project NHP had a nice park, but they were closed when we arrived. They didn’t seem to get much traffic and were only open on certain days.

We dropped off some postcards to be mailed at the drop box, and then proceeded to see about hitting Valles Caldera National Preserve. 

Valles Caldera was accessed from a quick turnoff on the way out of Los Alamos.

We came into the Caldera valley and were greeted with a verdant valley. We made it to the visitor center a few minutes before they closed, and were able to get our stamps and Junior Ranger books. We only had a few minutes inside the park before it closed and had to head out.

We drove out and around the Caldera the other way from which we came in, and came upon a scenic turnout. There we were able to get a glimpse of a herd of elk in the evening light. The phone cameras have quite the zoom on them, and we were able to get a couple good shots.

 On the way back to Albuquerque for the night we came upon an odd sight. The marker roadside told the story of Soda Dam.

We had to stop to take a look at it and get a couple pictures of the unusual sight.

 A close up of the dam.

Dam complete, we returned to Albuquerque for the night.

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11 June 2024 – Trip Day 72

After Petroglyph, the next day we drove north towards Santa Fe and visited the Pecos National Historical Park.

 We arrived at Pecos NHP and the kids got their books. We had lunch outside while they worked on them.

 There was a nice museum inside that documented the Pueblo and its history.

 The monsoons were building while we enjoyed our lunch.

 Numerous mock ups were inside the museum, as well as information on the civil war era battle of Glorieta Pass that took place nearby.

 After they completed the books, the kids had an interview with the Ranger and received their badges.

 After the kids received their badges, we went out for a walk on the short trail that took us to the pueblo and the mission church remains.

 The ruins of the mission stand above the trees.

 There was a large reconstructed kiva on the trail that we were able to climb down into. I helped Ducky descend the ladder.

Down in the bottom of the kiva, we took a look around. This kiva, like most reconstructed kivas, was unpainted. We would later (and had been previously to) visit the Coronado State kiva which was partially repainted.

 An informational sign showing the previous structure and what remains of the mission church. The mission church had several kivas which were incorporated on the church grounds. This was unusual because most mission churches did not have kivas on their grounds. This was also one of the pueblos that was successful in revolting against the Spanish rule.

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8 June 2024 – Trip Day 69

 After our visit to the Petrified Forest, we took a rest day. Starting off strong with D20 waffles, Meagan and the kids went to the pool to cool off.

 The campground had a nice pool that let the kids beat the heat!

 Randal always loves his water play time as well!

 Meagan, on the other hand, was all worn out after that.

 I’m not sure about the new mechanic, but he dressed himself and he’s ready to go to work for pre-trip checks!

 Arizona sunset.

Ducky grabbed my phone while I was checking tire pressures and helped himself to the camera. I’ll spare you the many other wonderful pictures of tires and the RV steps that he took, but it was pretty cute.

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7 June 2024 – Trip day 68

As part of our refactor of the trip due to repairs in Tucson, I added a stop for a few days at Holbrook, AZ which is right next to the Petrified Forest National Park.

 We stopped in at the visitor center for the kids to turn in their books – we had printed them out ahead of time.

There must have been some remodeling or something going on, as the visitor center was very small, mostly just a store with a couple of volunteers working a card table handing out information. The main door entrance was very narrow – so narrow we could not get the wagon through. We had to take the wagon around the side of the building to the accessible entrance and come in that way.

 Randal enjoyed exploring the store. There were some stuffed animals and puzzles he was all about grabbing.

 Evan turns in his book to get his badge. He had a little attitude about completing it, but he did eventually finish it under threat of us leaving and him not being able to turn it in.

 The crew posing on a petrified tree laid out in front of the visitor center building.

The biggest attraction of the park was a scenic drive.

As we embarked on the scenic drive, of 22 miles or so, we were greeted with sweeping vistas of the various geologic formations in the Monument.

A little ways into the drive, we arrived at the ruins of a village that was occupied around the time of the other pueblo settlements.

 There were numerous petroglyphs present at the site as well.

 Although the clouds came in and helped cool us off a bit, it was still plenty hot.

Free baby! 

I have video of the scenic drive which I will edit together later, capturing the scenery.

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4 June 2024 – Trip Day 65

We took a little drive to Jerome, a small town located in the mountains about halfway between Prescott and Flagstaff. We were on our way to visit a friend for lunch. We drove past the Montezuma Castle NM and climbed into the hills.

 All of the parking was paid parking. There was quite the view of the valley below from the lot.

 Keeping in character with the boom town history, there were a number of shops on theme.

 We had lunch at the Bordello, now serving lunch and drinks as opposed to other forms of entertainment.

 A hungry Randal nibbles on Arya’s hands while the kids wait for their food. After a decent lunch, we returned to the campground and the kids went swimming.

Randal hits the bottle one last time before bedtime.

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3 June 2024 – Trip Day 64

 We drove to the South Rim visitor center at the Grand Canyon National Park. The park was quite busy, but we were able to get parking fairly close to the visitor center. The parking lot was best compared to going to a theme park given all the cars that were there.

The Visitor Center closed at 3 pm, so we got the Junior Ranger books from the front desk and I (Alan) also got their badges to give to them when they completed their books.

 We sat out on the rocks and ate lunch and the kids worked on their books. It was a 2 hour drive one way from the campsite to the Visitor Center.

 Carl the Fat Squirrel was checking us out. He wasn’t shy and was ready to get any scraps that he could.

 A pair of Ravens were also checking us out, hopeful for some morsels that Carl didn’t get.

Is that you, Huginn and Muninn?

 After lunch and doing their books, we took the short walk up to the observation area. It was very hot there, and any of the other hikes were out of the question for us with the kids.

 The observation decks were moderately busy but we did get some nice views of the Grand Canyon.

 Wondering if they could climb down the canyon sides…

 A brief glimpse of the Colorado River was all that we could see.

 We took the scenic drive around the South Rim and got some nice views at sunset. Here, you can see the Colorado River reflecting the sunlight.

 We got to the Desert View Watchtower, built in 1932 for a bathroom stop. The kids ran to get the stamp for their books but were a few minutes too late and it closed before they could get it.

A view from the watchtower.

Meagan and I tag-teamed the visit. I took Ducky to go check it out and had a nice view of the sunset over the Canyon.

I have a video of the scenic drive that I’ll work on editing up for a later post. Right now I’m running a month behind on our journey posts, so I’m going to try to catch up on those first!

Thanks for reading!

You can read about other stops on our adventure here on Patreon, or our blog at https://www.wolfandraven.blog

2 June – Trip day 63

After our visit to the Montezuma Castle National Monument, we drove over to see the Tuzigoot National Monument.

Tuzigoot is the collection of ruins on a hill top. The history of this place was, they surmise, that it was used as a way station on the migration, but also a mining village that had access to valuable resources and minerals for dyes and other items.

  Like many other sites in the Southwest, there were several iterations of expansions until its abandonment.

One of the structures was reconstructed how it might have been. A common theme among the architecture was that the logs had to be imported from some tens of miles away from the mountains. Of course, it is also important to remember that this was done by hand, as the Natives did not have horses or the technology of the wheel.

Jarek, Arya, and Evan standing at the top with the valley behind them.

 Alan and kids at the structure.

Overall, this was a pretty simple site. They did have a nice museum in the visitor center, but it was not baby/child proofed – a number of the ollas (large pottery pieces) were quite accessible to little hands.

Thanks for reading!

You can read about our adventure here on Patreon, or our blog at https://www.wolfandraven.blog