Category: National Park Tour
Old Missions and Ghost Towns

Old Missions and Ghost Towns

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Hey Guys!! This is the last post for our Benson, Arizona area adventures! We spent two weeks in the area and crammed a ton of explorations in and still didn’t get to everything on our list.

We’re always up for a ghost town! I found out about Fairbank from a brochure I found at one of the stores in Benson and it immediately went on our list. Fairbank is part of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area and is run by the BLM. It’s pretty much out in the middle of nowhere.

There’s a small visitor center/museum set up in the old schoolhouse. When a volunteer is available to man it, the schoolhouse is open. We lucked out and it was open the morning we went. It’s a neat little schoolhouse. There are all kinds of trinkets and memorabilia that’s been found in Fairbank on display.

It’s hard to believe Fairbank was once one of the largest cities in the West. Three different railroad lines passed through Fairbank plus it was the closest railroad stop to the still famous town of Tombstone. First settled in 1881, Fairbank grew to a booming population of 15,000 residents by 1882. When the Tombstone mines closed due to flooding in 1886, Fairbank started its decline.

Fairbank had full-time residents until the early 1970s. They kept a small general store going but eventually, everyone moved away and the BLM acquired the land in 1986. There has been some restoration of a few of the buildings. They’re hoping to eventually restore the general store and the saloon. We had a fun time walking around looking at the buildings…imagining what life would have been like there when it was booming.

Tumacácori National Historical Park consists of about 360 acres and is split into three separate units. Each unit protects the ruins of a Spanish mission community. Two of the units are in such disrepair that they’re closed to the public and only available for private tours through the winter. We only made it to the main park to see Mission San Jose Tumacácori.

The very first Mission San Jose Tumacácori was built in January 1691 by the Spanish Jesuit padre Eusebio Francisco Kino and was the very first Jesuit mission in Arizona. Due to a rebellion in 1751, the mission was moved and rebuilt.

Part of the granary, where they kept the food, still stands. They’ve put some big pots in it to give you an idea of what it would have looked like while it was being used. I thought it was smart that there was an indention in the shelf to keep each pot in place.

You can also find the ruins of a small cemetery and a mortuary chapel on the grounds. I found the mortuary chapel interesting…we’ve been to several missions before, but had never seen a mortuary chapel before.

Before the Spanish arrived, this land was home to the O’odham. The Spanish called the ones that lived near the river Pima and the ones that lived in the desert Papago. The O’odham were farmers and excellent basket weavers. You can see a reproduction of a traditional O’odham home (called a ki) on the park grounds as well. The O’odham were a peaceful people unless they had to defend their homes…they would spend the next one hundred years in an uneasy and often times violent relationship with those that called the mission home.

In 1768 the Jesuits were replaced by Franciscan Catholics due to a political change. The Franciscans started to redecorate the mission and build a much larger church in 1880. They worked on the new church for twenty years, but never completely finished. The new, bigger…more grand church was only used until 1828. At that time, the Mexican government forced all Spanish born settlers out of their territory…this included the mission’s last resident priest.

In 1848, following the Mexican-American war, the mission was completely closed and the last residents were forced to leave. The entire area became the property of America in 1853 during the Gadsden Purchase when land south of the Gila River was transferred to Arizona. The mission sat empty until 1908 when President Theodore Roosevelt declared it Tumacácori National Monument and the NPS started restorations and repairs.

The day we went there were some volunteer demonstrators on the grounds. The boys loved watching and helping the blacksmith. They helped make a coat hook…which we got to keep. It’ll hang in our home someday when we get a sticks-n-bricks. They also had someone making fresh flour tortillas and beans. You could get a sample of beans and salsa rolled in a fresh tortilla. It wasn’t the worst thing. I would have gladly paid for an entire plate of them. We always spend money in the visitor centers when we visit the parks. They need the funds and a portion of every dollar you spend at a park goes to that park.

We found a place called Wisdom’s Café just down the road to grab some grub. The food was excellent, but the service was incredibly slow. Unfortunately, it was just our waitress. We saw all of the other workers hustling. If you ever go to Wisdom’s Café make sure you get one of their famous fruit burros! You can get them with or without ice cream, but who are we kidding…I know y’all will get the ice cream!

On the way home, we noticed all of the street signs were in kilometers instead of miles. We were pretty close to the border…but we’ve been pretty close to the border quite a few times and had never noticed that before.

We saw some ah-mazing sunsets while we were in the Benson area! Just truly gorgeous! The southwest doesn’t play around when it comes to sunsets and sunrises.

That’s it Guys!! It took three posts to get through our Benson area adventures! I hope y’all are enjoying seeing some places you might not have known about and maybe you’ve learned a little something too. 🙂

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Land Of Standing Up Rocks

Land Of Standing Up Rocks

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Hey Guys!! We’re back in the Benson area for this post. We crammed so many adventures into our two weeks I might have to make this area a three post series. This is post number two of our Benson explorations…so lets get into it!

Chiricahau National Monument was established in April of 1924 and protects a small portion (around 12,000 acres) of the Chiricahau Mountains in southeast Arizona. I have to admit, I hadn’t done any research on this park before we went so I didn’t really know what to expect. On the way there we were out in the middle of nowhere with a pretty flat landscape and I kept thinking that this park might be a quick hour or two type of thing and then we’d head to a different park. So, when we rounded a corner and all of a sudden found ourselves in a forest…things got interesting.

The Chiricahua Apache call this place “The Land Of Standing Up Rocks” because of all of the hoodoos. But Guys, these aren’t your normal hoodoos. The hoodoos, pinnacles, columns, and balanced rocks you’ll find in this park are all made up of rhyolite, a grey rock made up of super heated ash that’s been melted together.

When you drive up into Chiricahua National Monument, you’re driving onto one of the many sky islands of southeastern Arizona. Sky Islands are actually mountain ranges that are isolated from each other due to valleys, deserts, or grasslands that act sort of like barriers. Because of these barriers, plants and animals can become isolated on these sky islands.

Sometime around twenty-seven million years ago the Turkey Creek Volcano erupted and spewed ash over 1,200 square miles. The super heated ash compressed together, cooled, and formed rock formations. The rock formations you see today were created from years and years of weathering and erosion. Scientist have estimated that the Turkey Creek eruption was 1,000 times bigger than the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980.

While we were driving to the end of the eight mile scenic drive, we realized this park would definitely take the whole day. We did a hike that took us down into the heart of a section of the standing up rock formations and somehow missed a turn and ended up hiking longer than we’d intended. It was a gorgeous day though so we weren’t too irritated by it.

After we finished our hike, we found a picnic table and had a late lunch. The entire time we ate, we had an audience of Mexican Jay birds. They showed up by the dozens and worked so hard at giving us a show so that we’d maybe feed them. We didn’t. We like to keep the wildlife wild. I wanted to feed them though. Man, did they work so hard for a little treat. I felt horrible walking off and not leaving them some food.

After lunch we headed to the Faraway Ranch which is also protected on the Chiricahua National Monument lands. In 1877, after the final surrender of the Apache leader Geronimo, a couple (Neil and Emma Erickson) set up a homestead on the land that would become Faraway Ranch. Eventually, the land around the homestead became the Chiricahua Forest Reserve and Neil became it’s first Ranger. He used his home at Faraway Ranch as the Forest Reserve’s headquarters for a time.

In 1917 the Erickson’s daughter, Lillian, decided to invite guests to stay at Faraway Ranch as a vacation to relax. While the guests were there, they could ride horses, explore the nearby rock formations, or even help out on the ranch with cattle chores. Riding horses through the canyons to see the rock formations was the most popular activity.

Today, you can take a tour of Faraway Ranch and learn of it’s history. One of my favorite things about the ranch is the unique fireplace. In 1885-1886 an encampment of Buffalo Soldiers was set up not far from the ranch to help protect the area. While there, the soldiers built a stone monument where many of them would carve their name. After the troops left, the monument started to disappear form weather and from settlers carrying the stones off to use. In the 1920s, Ed Riggs (Lillian’s husband), salvaged quite a few of the stones and made a fireplace with them in the ranch house to help preserve them.

In the visitor center, you can see how the Faraway Ranch changed and evolved over the years. When the Erickson family first settled there, it was a small rustic cabin with a stronghold in the back to protect from Apache attacks. Over time, as the role of the ranch changed so did it’s size and shape.

We really loved this park! It was totally unexpected and amazing. If you’re ever anywhere near Chiricahua National Monument…you need to go. It’s so worth the drive. Not far from it is Fort Bowie National Monument. We had planned to visit that one on the same day, but we spent so much time at Chiricahua that we ran out of daylight and had to pass on it. Unfortunately, we never made it back to the Fort. But, we will definitely go back to the area someday.

We’re on this whole National Park Tour…that includes Memorials, Monuments, Battlefields, Historical Sites….you get the point. So when I found Coronado National Monument I immediately added it to our list without much of a thought. It wasn’t until later that I realized the park hugs the border with Mexico and might be a bit dangerous to visit. We’ve been very close to the border on several occasions. We even crossed it once in Big Bend National Park to go to the small town Bouquillas to get some lunch and look around. Safety really depends on where along the border you are. This particular spot along the border is very close to a huge military station so we felt safe-ish. We saw so many border agents driving around…in fact, we saw several border agents every single time we’d leave the park we were staying in. But, we’ve heard all kinds of stories (first hand accounts) that kept us very on edge the whole time we were at Coronado National Memorial.

Coronado National Memorial was originally designated Coronado International Memorial when the United States came to an agreement with Mexico as a sign of goodwill and cooperation. Mexico never developed their side of the park though so in 1952 Congress changed the designation to Coronado National Memorial. In the above left picture, you can see the border between the US and Mexico. It looks like a long dark line.

We hiked the Coronado Peak Trail while we were there. It starts at Montezuma Pass and takes you up 300 feet to Coronado Peak. It was a quick easy hike that gave us some breathtaking views of Sonora, Mexico right across the border.

Coronado National Memorial commemorates the 1540 expedition of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado as the first known Europeans to visit the United States. Coronado’s expedition consisted of around 300 Europeans, several Franciscan priests, well over 1,000 Aztec/Mexica allies and “scores of servants and enslaved peoples” along with as many as 6,000 head of livestock (cattle and sheep) and supplies. The main purpose of this Memorial is to interpret Coronado’s two year expedition to find the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola and explore unknown territories.

Coronado thought he was going to find cities laden with gold and priceless jewels. What he found when he finally reached his first Zuni Pueblo was a farming community. He eventually made it all the way up to what is known today as Salina, Kansas before he gave up and went back to Mexico. The tribe that was helping him thought he was looking for bison so they took him to Kansas where there were thousands of bison.

Coronado’s dreams of fame and fortune disappeared with his failure to fine the Seven Cities of Cibola. He died ten years after his return in relative obscurity. His expedition failed, but actually, his two year exploration was like a pebble in a pond setting ripples into motion. Not only did he change the Native Tribe’s religion by their interactions with the Franciscan priests, Coronado’s expedition opened the door for Spanish explorers and missionaries to start colonizing the Southwest.

The Spanish brought with them the technique of decorating tin with small holes that will allow light to shine through. Punched tin is still a common decoration of the American Southwest and is still being produced in both Mexico and the Southwest.

Well Guys, I think I’m going to pause here and finish up in the next post so stay tuned! I’ll leave you with a picture of Nicholas dressed up and being a bit silly at the Coronado National Monument Visitor Center.

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Back In Arizona

Back In Arizona

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Hey Guys!! We made it back to Arizona! We stayed two weeks at a state park called Kartchner Caverns that looked interesting when I found it online…plus, there aren’t very many RV parks in this area of AZ.

The Benson area of Arizona is really close to several National Parks so we used it as a base camp to knock a few parks and places off of our to-see list.

One of those places was the old mining town of Bisbee. We’ve had a lot of cool experiences on this grand adventure we call OurRVTrip, but we hadn’t toured a mine yet so we headed to Queen Mine for a tour down into an old mine. We hadn’t made reservations for the tour, but managed to snag spots on one of the earlier tours of the day. Everyone gets a light that hangs around your neck, a cool neon safety vest and a super stylin’ hardhat to wear for the duration of the tour.

We also stopped by the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum. I’ll be mixing the pictures I got from both of these places…just FYI.

While we were on the mine tour, we learned about the mule trains they used to have down in the mine. The mules were only supposed to pull four carts at a time and if the miners got in a hurry and tried to tack on another cart…the mules refused to move. Ha! We also learned that the mules spent so much time down in the mines that the iris/pupil in their eyes would stop working after a certain time. The mining company would watch it closely and when it happened the mules had a special hood that would go on and they would be taken back up to the surface. Every day or so a slit in the hood near their eyes would be made bigger until their eyes were back to normal. Once their eyes were normal, the mules were retired to a nice field where they got to live out the rest of their days in comfort.

In 1877, while on a mission to find renegade Apaches up in the Mule Mountains of southern Arizona, tracker Jack Dunn found signs of mineralization. Not long after, the first mining claim was staked in what would eventually become the city of Bisbee. It wasn’t long before Bisbee became known as the “Queen of the copper camps.”

By the early 1900s Bisbee was the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco. People from all over came to the area to try and get a piece of the mining dream. In true mining town fashion, the mining company owned the town and all of the stores.

Over the years, Queen Mine produced almost three million ounces of gold, more than eight billion pounds of copper, and over three hundred different minerals…including silver, lead, and zinc. Bisbee’s minerals still rank as some of the world’s best.

In the mid 1970s the mine closed down even though the minerals weren’t depleted. There are still tons of minerals in the mine. But the company moved to other parts of the country and world where they’re still mining today. It’s said…that eventually, the company will go back to Bisbee and continue mining the Queen Mine. When the company left, they gave all of the buildings and businesses to the residents of Bisbee.

We really enjoyed our day in Bisbee. Walking around the town, checking out some of the old businesses that are still open. If you’re ever over in that part of Arizona, Bisbee is definitely worth a day or two of exploration!

It always feels more like camping when we stay at a state park. You’d think that most RV parks would have fire rings, but they don’t. At least…not the ones we stay at. So, when we get a spot with a fire ring…we thoroughly enjoy some actual camping.

Kartchner Caverns State Park is really known for its…well…caverns (caves). We were looking forward to doing a tour, but decided that the $25 a piece plus not being able to take any pictures or videos…made it less interesting for us. So, we went hiking instead. We couldn’t complain about the views.

The day we pulled into the park, we spotted a trail that meandered its way up the hill. We went into the park visitor center to ask about it, but the Rangers there told us that the trail we were looking at wasn’t a trail and that it wasn’t even in the park…that there was no way to get to it from the park.

We actually found our way up to that old mining road. There was a trail right from the back of the park up to it. I’m not sure what that Ranger thought we were talking about. We saw several old mines on our hike…all with signage for people to stay out. We didn’t get anywhere near them, but they were neat to spot.

We also found a cow. Just one cow out chilling by herself…she didn’t seem to appreciate us popping up over the trail on our way back to the campground. We figured if the area was safe enough for a single cow…we should be safe from any big predators (mountain lions).

In Benson, we found quite a few really neat murals. I somehow only got pictures of these two…but the others were all just as good.

We were pleasantly surprised by the foodies we found in Benson! We spent several meals at the Horseshoe Café. If you go there make sure to get the Almond Joy Cake…it’s probably the best cake I’ve ever had out. We also found a spice store and Prickly Pear gummies!!

In the next post I’ll tell you all about the National Monuments we visited while we were in the area!

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
A Little Time in Las Cruces

A Little Time in Las Cruces

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Hey Guys!! Our last stop in New Mexico this time was Las Cruces. We spent two weeks in the area, but didn’t really do a whole lot of adventuring.

The first thing we did when we got to Las Cruces was head to Hatch, NM for some spicy melt-your-face-off food. Our go to spot in Hatch is a joint called Sparkeys. Even the ice cream at Sparkeys is spicy!!

Prehistoric Trackway National Monument is a BLM run National Park that was established to protect a large collection of Paleozoic era fossilized footprints along what’s called a megatrackway.

The monument consists of over 5,000 acres and has been called by some scientists as possibly the most “scientifically significant Permian track sites in the world…and Guys…we couldn’t find a single track. We tried so hard. We looked around the trail for a couple of hours but didn’t see single track. We found a couple of shell fossils, but no tracks.

There are a few different hiking paths. There’s supposed to be a way to link a couple of them and make a loop. We tried to do that and we somehow got lost and ended up in a section that was supposed to be closed. It was great to get outside on a beautiful day with some great views though! We’ll call it a win even though we didn’t find what we were looking for.

We hit up some of our go to foodie spots while we were there and found a few new spots that were fantastic! If you’re in Las Cruces, go check out Chala’s Woodfire Grill and High Desert Brewing Co!! This was our last chance to get some authentic New Mexican food so we ate as much of it as we could.

So, as you can see, we didn’t really do a lot during the two weeks we were in Las Cruces. We ate a lot more than we probably should have, soaked up the beautiful sunsets, and made some plans for our 2020 adventures.

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour

Lava, Petroglyphs, and White Sands

Lava, Petroglyphs, and White Sands

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Hey Guys!! We made it down to Alamogordo, NM where we spent a week cramming in as many adventures (and foodies) as we possibly could! It helped that Jerl had a few days off to celebrate the New Year.

As per our usual timing while in New Mexico…we raced a snow storm to get to Alamogordo. I think we saw all four seasons of weather on our way between Santa Fe and Alamogordo. It was quite the drive.

We found the Valley of Fires Recreation Area during our second visit to the Alamogordo area, but didn’t make it there to explore. I guess going to see a lava field in the snow wasn’t the best idea. But, we weren’t the only people there! Ha! I guess sometimes, you have to just work with the weather you’re given. If you look closely, you’ll see the black of the lava peeking out from under the white snow. Valley of Fires Rec Area is a BLM run National Park. There’s a visitor center, and small gift shop on site.

You can see the Carrizozo Lava Flow on Google Maps if you look. It formed when lava was pushed up through vents in the earth’s surface sometime around 4,000 years ago which makes it one of the youngest lava flows in the U.S. When it’s not covered in snow, you can see cracks, collapsed lava tubes, fissures and collapsed lava bubbles. In some places, the lava is more than 160 feet deep.

Right down the road from the Valley of Fires Rec Area is the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site which is also a BLM run National Park. There’s a visitor center and small campground at this site. I’ll be honest, I spent as much time ogling the snow covered mountain as I did checking out the petroglyphs here.

The petroglyphs found at Three Rivers were made by a group of prehistoric Native Americans referred to as Jornada Mogollon. There are more than 21,000 petroglyphs at this one site. The sheer number of petroglyphs in such a big concentration makes Three Rivers one of the largest rock art sites in the Southwest.

Even though we know when these petroglyphs were made and have a good idea of who made them…we still don’t know what they really mean. We can guess, but we’ll never truly know.

There are also the remains of a Mongollon village that was occupied for around 400 years. The village was only partially excavated, but you can see part of three different structures.

Our favorite thing to do in Alamogordo is go visit White Sands which was recently changed from a National Monument to a National Park. When we were there in December 2019 the park was still working on getting everything switched over to National Park status stuff. We’ve been to White Sands many times, but it never gets old. We’ve spent two New Year’s Days at White Sands…so those gypsum sand dunes will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Anytime we’re in Alamogordo, we have to stock up on some of our favorite foodies. Pistachios are pretty high on our list of must haves and the ones from both Heart of the Desert and Pistachio Tree Ranch are awesome! We also fill our freezer with as many chopped green chilies as we can fit in it. The grocery stores there keep a supply of freshly roasted and peeled green chilies and jalapenos right in the produce section. It’s the best!! We stock up and then freeze them so we can use them throughout the year. I’m greedy with them though…I try to stretch out the good stuff so we don’t run out too quickly.

Confession: We were only in Alamogordo for a week…and we ate out every single day we were there. Every. Single. Day. And we’re not even sorry.

Every time we go back to Alamogordo it feels a little like going home to us. No, we’re not thinking about settling down there…but, we could definitely spend a season or two there. Not summer though…we’ve heard it gets way too hot.

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Santa Fe For Christmas

Santa Fe For Christmas

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Hey Guys!! We always seem to end up in Santa Fe around Christmas. This year (2019) makes our third Christmas in Santa Fe since we started this grand adventure of ours. There’s something so magical about seeing Santa Fe in the snow. I think, for me, it’s the luminaries lit up and the adobe style buildings with their chili pepper garlands all covered in snow. I fell in love with it during our first visit to Santa Fe back in 2015 and it kind of feels like revisiting an old friend now.

We’ve had snow in Santa Fe every single time we’ve been there and this time didn’t let us down! In fact, I scheduled Santa Fe for Christmas because I wanted to have a white Christmas.

So, in between all of our adventuring, we did our Christmas traditions. We have tamales for our Christmas dinner and Guys, it’s almost impossible to find decent tamales outside of New Mexico.

We spent an entire day exploring the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument. This National Monument is split into three separate mission sites. It’s quite a drive to get in between them, so if you’re going…go early and plan on an entire day. You do drive through small communities so you could grab lunch somewhere if you didn’t want to pack a picnic.

We started our explorations of the Salinas Pueblo Missions at the Gran Quivira Mission which is the largest of the three missions. Gran Quivira was an important trading community because of it’s location between the Pueblo Tribes and the Plains Tribes who were more nomadic.

When the Spanish explorers arrived in this area in 1583, they reported that there were eleven pueblos with close to 40,000 people. Gran Quivira started as a group of pit houses around 1,200 years ago but grew into a thriving community with over twenty masonry buildings. They had water catchment systems in place for the dry times because there wasn’t a water source close by.

The Friars and the Franciscan missionaries showed up in 1627 and started preaching with translators. They allowed some religious freedoms at first, but by the 1660s changes started to appear in church policies that forced the Natives to hide their sacred ceremonies and beliefs. In 1630 the first priest moved into the pueblo and had the Natives start building a church and by 1659 had plans for a bigger church. Everyone helped…even the women and children.

At some point in the 1660s there was a drought in the area and the already dry pueblo suffered. In 1670 the people of Gran Quivira left and went to Abó and those that were left behind died from either smallpox or a different disease brought over with the Spanish soon after.

Mission San Gregorio de Abó was home to the Pueblo Indians for over five hundred years. In 1622 the Franciscan priests came to this area to “civilize” the Tribes who called this region home. For close to one thousand years, people have been drawn to this area.

Abó had two priests who lived there. That was unusual for that time and made Abó one of the largest missionaries in all of New Mexico. While the priests and the friars worked to Christianize the Native population, they had them building not one church but two.

When the Spanish found Abó, they estimated the population close to 800 Indians. By 1670, drought, Apache uprisings, and disease caused the abandonment of Abó. In the span of just fifty years, this flourishing community was left empty.

The Villages of Quarai are largely unexcavated. The church is really the only thing left standing. They took several ground surveys and based on what they found…they believe this community was around 400 to 600 people.

I didn’t see a ton of info about life here at Quarai. There’s still quite a bit they don’t really know. So, I don’t have a ton of info to pass on to you about this site. We do know that in 1598 when the first priest showed up, Quarai was a thriving community.

I can also tell you that by the late 1670s, the residents of Quarai were all suffering from the same drought, famine, and disease we’ve read about at so many other ancient dwellings and missions of this time. Quarai also had trouble with nearby warring tribes.

It always makes us sad when we learn how thriving and full of life these communities were when they were living and worshiping their way and then to ‘see’ how fast they declined once interference was inserted into their lives. I don’t feel like their lives were made better and I often wonder, while walking amongst the ancient dwellings, what their lives would have been like if they’d been left alone.

Bandelier National Monument is one of the parks we’ve been to numerous times now…and every time we visit we find out some new information or see something with a new perspective. Since we were in the Santa Fe area, we spent some time in one of our favorite parks.

Bandelier National Monument protects close to thirty thousand acres and eleven thousand years of human history. Found on the slopes of the Jemez volcanic field in what’s known as Frijoles Canyon, the Ancestral Pueboloans built their homes out of the volcanic tuff that was left over after the Valles Caldera volcano blew her top over a million years ago. Today, you can see what’s left of several ancient communities.

You can see where the walls of this ancient dwelling used to be. the holes in the rock are where support beams used to be. There is even a small space where you can see how the interior of these homes used to be decorated. We like to walk amongst these sites and imagine what life would have been like for the former occupants.

Our favorite trail takes you up to Alcove House. This is a fun trail where you get to climb up four wooden ladders and some stone stairs to get to an ancient dwelling 140 feet above the canyon floor. They believe about twenty or so people used to live there. There’s a reconstructed kiva at Alcove House, but we’ve never seen it open to the public. The views of the canyon from the top are pretty amazing!

Bandelier not only has some amazing views, fun trails, and ancient dwellings (that you get to explore from the inside) it also has some of our favorite trees…ponderosa trees smell so good! What can I say…we’re a tree hugging/smelling family of nomads.

Back in 2015 during our first visit to the Santa Fe area, we found the little town of Los Alamos and the Bradbury Science Museum. While we were soaking in all of the science goodness, we found out that the National Park Service was actually in the process of making a visitor center for the Manhattan Project National Historic Park in Los Alamos. Our little science hearts were so excited! We’ve tried a few times to make it to the visitor center and every time we were thwarted. But this time…we made it! And…it was open!!! I don’t know if you know this about us, but we’re nerds. Science is totally our jam. Back in 2015 I had the boys read a book called The Secret Project Notebook by Carolyn Reeder. It was a great way to start our Los Alamos explorations and get them interested in the history of the project Los Alamos is known for…the atomic bomb.

If you have the chance to visit Los Alamos, you really should. It’s a great little town with some top notch science nerdery.

Did someone say foodies? We might be slightly obsessed with New Mexican food. Maybe. We ate so much of it while we were there that we started to smell like a Mexican restaurant when we would sweat. Ha! It was fantastic!! We have our favorite spots…but we also found a few new favorites that we will definitely revisit next time!

That’s it for our Santa Fe adventures for this time!

See y’all down the road!!

#NationalParkTour
Chaco Culture National Historical Park

Chaco Culture National Historical Park

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Hey Guys! We’re back in Farmington for one more post. This time we’re taking you to Chaco Culture National Historical Park. We found out about Chaco years ago. While we were visiting a different ancient dwelling, a Ranger saw how much we enjoyed the park and she dug out a map and started telling us about some of her favorite National Parks/Monuments. I think she was thrilled to have a family who was excited about learning to talk to and we were thrilled to have some insider knowledge about what parks we should put on our list.

Chaco Canyon is the largest excavated, best preserved ancient dwelling site in North America. This National Park sits in the middle of nowhere so don’t count on cell service…or really any kind of service. Make sure you’re geared up with plenty of snacks…possibly some lunch…water, and gas for your car. You’ll want to get there early because there’s so much to see…plan on spending an entire day here.

In the visitor center there’s a great little museum that has a cool little diorama that will give you a view of what Pueblo Bonito looks like from afar. It really gives you a better perspective of just how big a Chacoan Great House was.

Chaco Canyon is home to several great houses and hundreds of smaller sites spread out over the entirety of the canyon. Above you can see a few pictures of Hungo Pavi, an unexcavated Choacoan great house they believe had about one hundred and fifty rooms.

We spent the most time exploring Pueblo Bonito. This Chacoan great house was constructed in stages between 850 CE to 1250. At that time, Chaco was basically the center of the ancestral Puebloan people’s world. It was built at the geographical center of more than two hundred communities located outside of the canyon.

Chacoan builders often times oriented great houses with solar, lunar, and cardinal directions. The doors and windows pointed to specific directions. The inhabitants of the pueblos would use these guides as a type of calendar to know when to plant crops and hold specific ceremonies.

For three hundred years, generations of people worked on building Pueblo Bonito. Looking at the size and number of rooms, you’d think that the population of this pueblo was in the hundreds, but archaeologist think the permanent population was really only around 100 people. It’s thought that the residents Chaco Canyon numbered up to 6,000 people and the great houses were more of a center of trade, politics, and community business.

When the archaeologist started excavating, they found a sealed room containing 50,000 pieces of turquoise. That would have been amazing to see! Just to give you some perspective on that turquoise find…that’s more turquoise than what’s been found at all of the other archaeological sites in the American Southwest. In another room they found 4,000 pieces of jet and fourteen macaw skeletons. The fact that archaeologists found rooms full of items that would have been traded, leads them to believe that most of the rooms in Pueblo Bonito were used for storage.

In 1941, a huge rockfall destroyed around thirty rooms and damaged a portion of a main wall. Today, there’s only so much the NPS can legally do to help maintain and preserve sites like this. At one time, they could actually replace load bearing timbers and were able to put up these support beams. Now…it’s tricky. Rangers have to walk a fine line between to preserve as much as possible within the law.

There are quite a few petroglyphs in several places with the canyon. There’s an entire wall of them. We’ve seen petroglyphs at several different ancient dwellings and it’s always interesting to try and guess what they are or mean.

Archeologist have found proof of over 10,000 years of human occupation within Chaco Canyon. Pueblo del Arroyo was built between the years of 1065 CE and 1150. The most interesting thing we found about Pueblo del Arroyo was the triple wall kiva. A tri-wall kiva is rare in the Chaco region…in fact, only about a dozen or so have been found. Another big difference with this pueblo is that it faces east instead of south the way the other great houses are.

Casa Rinconada great kiva was constructed on the top of a hill surrounded by smaller villages. This great kiva is the largest found in Chaco Canyon and one of the biggest ever found within the Chacoan world. The layout seems to be very much like the reconstructed great kiva we saw at Aztec National Memorial. If you missed that post you can find it here.

We had the best day exploring and learning while at Chaco Culture National Historical Site. We were bummed when we ran out of light and the park closed before we could see everything. We’ve decided we need to find a place to stay that’s closer so we can go back at least a few times.

If you’re anywhere near Chaco Canyon…go visit. It’s one of the best, perhaps the best, ancient dwelling sites we’ve ever been to.

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Aztec Ruins National Monument

Aztec Ruins National Monument

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Hey Guys!! We’re back in New Mexico!! This is one of our absolute favorite states to visit…and not just because the foodies here are sooo insanely good…we also really love the history and culture of New Mexico.

Each state has a feel. I know, I know…I’m getting all woo woo on you, but stay with me here… Every place has a feel to it. Usually, you associate certain feelings or emotions with a place based on your experiences there. But, sometimes you can visit a new place and you just click with it. It resonates with you in a way you might not understand, but you like. New Mexico is like that for us. We’ve liked it from the get-go…it resonates with us. So, we always look forward to spending time in New Mexico.

We spent two weeks in Farmington, NM so we could visit a couple of National Monuments and explore some close-ish by places we wanted to see that aren’t National Parks, but interesting.

One of our first stops was Aztec National Monument. No, the Aztecs never lived there. This location got it’s name from early Spanish explorers who often used the name “Aztec” pretty much anytime they found ancient sites. The people who lived and built the ancient community of Aztec National Monument are known as ancestral Puebloan people. The descendants of the ancestral Puebloan people who are still in the area don’t like to call the ancient dwellings ruins. They’re not ruins to them. They believe the spirits of their ancestors still live in those ancient dwellings.

The ancient building you find at Aztec NM is called a great house and is considered to be part of the Chaco Phenomenon. This period of time saw members of the Chaco community move to the banks of the Animas River and start building the Aztec Community around 1100 CE. These Great Houses were used as community centers where business, politics, trade, and ceremonies would have taken place.

There are places within the ancient dwelling where you can see the original ceilings. Still holding up after 900 years of use. The wooden beams are made of trees like ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, spruce, or aspen. Most of these trees are all found in higher elevations and would have required at least a twenty mile walk to get them to this site. Because of how well preserved these ceilings are…the scientist have been able to do a test called dendrochronology where they take tiny little core samples of the trees to find out the age of them by counting the tree rings. This process tells the scientist when each room of the community was built and allows them to more precisely date the ancient dwelling.

Ancestral Peublo people were living in and building the Aztec NM site from the late 100s to sometime during late 1200s. The community was so large its thought to have rivaled the size of the community found in Chaco Cannyon.

The ancestral Puebloan people incorporated solar and lunar alignments into most of their structures and used these markers as a way to determine when to plant crops, when to do certain ceremonies, and to keep a balance within the community. The inhabitants of Aztec NM often included green stones within certain walls. You can see this in the above left picture. No one really knows why they did this. Did it have meaning or was it purely decorative? There are some archeologists who believe, based on shared ideas by some Pueblos and Navajos, that the stripes could have been associated with water and believed to protect the community.

The Great Kiva was considered to be the heart and soul of the community. It is believed that great kivas would have been used as public buildings for the surrounding communities. A sanctuary. Possibly a place where different clans had meetings or held ceremonies. The great kiva at Aztec NM was excavated in 1921 by Earl Morris and then reconstructed in 1934 so that we could get an idea of what these amazing buildings would have looked like when they were being used. We’ve been to several ancient dwellings and have seen what’s left of kivas of all sizes. We’ve read what they were used for. We tried to picture in our minds what they would have looked like. We’ve listened to Rangers talk about what’s known and guessed about them…but being able to actually walk into one of the great kivas and explore it…even though it is a reconstructed one…was amazing.

The dwellings at Aztec NM consisted of several different sites. The great house we’ve been talking about was a three-story building with over 500 rooms. It held quite a few smaller kivas and also had a great kiva as it’s community center. Sometime during the late 1200s people started moving away from this area. No one really knows why. There is speculation it was a long period of drought and perhaps some social factors that caused the move, but there’s no hard evidence. We know that from this area they traveled west, south and east to what are now Hopi and Zuni communities.

When the people left, they left pieces of their lives behind. I always enjoy seeing the pottery they made. It amazes the how detailed they are.

The ancestral Puebolan people might have moved on, but the descendants of those people still come to Aztec NM to remember. They still feel a connection to their ancestors as they walk the ancient dwellings. They believe their ancestor’s spirits are still there and that the ancient dwelling is still inhabited. So, when you go visit these places please respect them and those that are believed to still be living there.

Shiprock is known by the Navajo as Tsé Bit’ a’í which means rock with wings. It stands at somewhere around 1500 feet high, making it’s peak close to 7,000 feet above sea level. Located on Navajo Nation land, Shiprock is very important to Navajo beliefs and culture. They ask that you don’t climb it or hike to it or it’s surrounding rocks. They also ask that you no longer drive down the dirt road leading to it. It is a sacred site and should be treated with reverence. Shiprock was created over a millennia ago and is at the center of three volcanic pressure points.

When we went to Shiprock, there was a group of people holding a public event along the dirt road leading up to the rock. We asked them for permission to drive a little on the road up to the rock and they told us we could. We didn’t go far and we didn’t climb on anything. In fact, we just took some pictures, marveled at the whole structure and left.

We also made it out to Four Corners where we stood in four states at once. The Four Corners complex is also on Navajo Nation land and there is a small fee to get to it. We went during the winter so there weren’t a whole lot of people. There are vendor stalls set up all around the complex so locals can sell their art. We chatted with a couple of them, bought a few things, and headed down the road. I’ve said it before…and I’ll say it again here…talk to the locals. They have some really great stories about their culture and beliefs…that they might be willing to share with you. We talked for quite a while to a woman selling sand art. She told us how she and her family go up into the surrounding mountains to find the different rocks to make the various colors needed for her art. Each color is made using a specific rock or mineral. Each has meaning. We find it all fascinating and really enjoy chatting with the local artists.

I’ll end this post with some foodies…because…well, yum! We found a pizza place called Pizza 9 and fell in love with it. We ate there several times in the two weeks we were in Farmington. Some of us have even declared it to be our favorite pizza place of all time while others still insist Back Road Pizza in Santa Fe is top of the list. We also ate a a couple of Mexican places…one was Fiesta Mexicana and I can’t remember where the other one was. Both were good! Not great…but good!

Well, that’s pretty much everything we did in the Farmington area. I’ll finish up with one more National Monument in the next post!

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Five Year Nomadiversary!!

Five Year Nomadiversary!!

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Hey Guys!! It’s that time again…it’s our Nomadiversary!! Today marks five full years of being digital nomads and living our American Dream. You know, we started this whole journey to show our boys that not all American Dreams have to look the same. Some might include a white picket fence, some have you wearing suits and working in offices, sometimes it means you go to work outside and some dreams might look like a home-on-wheels that takes you wherever you want to go. Everyone has different goals and dreams…and that’s ok. It’s those differences that make life so interesting and our Country so great. We really believe that if you can dream it, you can do it. You just have to be willing to put in the effort to make it happen.

It’s been quite the year! We started our year in Texas eating our way though BBQ places and then we spent a couple of months in Missouri visiting family. Every time we’re in Missouri we seem to have a never ending list of projects we need to work on. We did make it to Branson with my (Jennie) parents for a long weekend of family fun. And, the boys got to have Shop Class with Grandpa. We always look forward to our time with family.

We spent almost two months in Colorado finding the wild places and visiting National Parks. Colorado is, with out a doubt, one of the most beautiful states in our country. Our favorite day in Colorado was the day we went exploring up in the mountains on old mining roads.

Utah was in a word…amazing. We did some hard hikes, found some breathtaking views, drove down some awesome dirt roads and woke up with ice on the inside of our walls a few times.

We spent several weeks in Northern Arizona. before heading to New Mexico. I always forget how cold New Mexico gets in the winter. A few of us wanted an actual winter with a white Christmas so we ended our 2019 in New Mexico. We visited some new NPs and revisited an old favorite. Even as nomads we’ve developed family traditions…ours just revolve around certain places. Is it weird we feel at home in several different states?

Arizona was home to us for most of our nomadic year. We were just starting our time there when the Corona Virus started to do its thing. Luckily, we did get a little exploring done before everything closed down. Sedona has been one of our favorite areas since our very first visit back in 2015.

Ok, let’s talk about the real reason you’re all here…the foodies. We do love our local mom and pop foodie shops. And, Guys…we found some ah-mazing places this nomadic year!!

We had big plans for 2020 with tons of National Park units on the schedule. In February and March while we were in the Sedona area, we realized things weren’t going to go as planned. Due to the Corona Virus, everything started shutting down and it became almost impossible to find things in the grocery store. State and National campgrounds closed, some private RV parks were ordered to close, and…all of the National Parks closed. All of them. It’s hard to go on a National Park tour when the parks are closed and there’s no definitive answer as to when they’ll open back up.

When our reservations in Sedona ran out we decided to go ahead and keep with our planned reservation schedule. Our next stop was back to Page, AZ and honestly, we didn’t mind that it was basically a ghost town. Mostly locals. It was so different from the last time we were there when there were people in every nook and cranny.

For now, we’re hanging out in Utah, waiting to see what happens with the National Parks and the campgrounds. We’ve been enjoying the scenic drives that are close by…and the snow topped mountains aren’t the worst thing ever. ;-P

It’s been quite the eventful year for us even with this whole corona virus mess! During our fifth year of nomadary we: explored six states, visited thirty-two National Park units, drove a total of 4,689 miles, and made countless memories.

A few of our favorites from this year are hiking Angel’s Landing, exploring the mountains of Colorado, getting to talk to some Navajo while visiting their home, and hiking the Peekaboo/Spooky slot canyons.

All in all…I’d say our fifth year of living the nomad life was a success. Thanks for coming along for the ride!

See y’all down the road!

#nomadiversary
Monument Valley

Monument Valley

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Hey Guys!! We spent a long weekend in Monument Valley and we crammed as much as we could in… so let’s get started!

The morning we left Page to head for Monument Valley, we woke up to snow. Our main concern was the condition of the roads, but they were totally fine. Honestly, I was beyond thrilled at the thought of getting some shots of Monument Valley with snow.

We turned off the main road and pretty much drove right out of the snow. Boo. But look how pretty the area is! I’ve always wanted to go to Monument Valley. I can remember watching old Westerns on Sundays with my dad and thinking how cool it would be to go see Monument Valley in person one day.

The first thing we did when we got there was grab some grub… because… well, that’s what we do. We’re foodies. And the Navajo Tacos were screaming my name. Screaming!

We were sitting at our table with the awesome view, eating our tasty foodies, when the snow we drove out of earlier caught up with us. It was so neat to watch it move in! And I thought…ooooo, we’re going straight over to the valley so I can grab some snowy pictures!! And it snowed until we were almost there…but then we drove out of it again. Guys, it snowed like a block away from the valley…but not in the valley. I mean, what-the-hey-diddly-do!?! Come on Mother Nature…work with me here!!

After realizing the snow wasn’t going to work with us, we took our time in the museum they have at the visitor center. There are some really beautiful jewelry and weavings on display along with some educational exhibits on the Navajo culture. We spent the most time in the Code Talkers exhibit. I don’t know if you know this about us…but we’re nerds. It always takes us so much time to go through museums.

Our first day there, we never actually made it into the valley, but I did get some very moody shots of the that iconic view. With the storm blowing through, it was extremely windy and so cold that we didn’t stick around outside too long.

We got up early the next day and headed to the valley to try and get some shots off before the crowds moved in. Yup, it was crowded. Tour buses would show up with tons of people. We didn’t see too many people out and about that morning though. I think the freezing temps and the arctic wind kept the saner people at bay.

Monument Valley is a Navajo Tribal Park and there are still families who live in the valley itself. The park spans two states…Utah and Arizona and is somewhere close to 90,000 acres. The Navajo (they call themselves Diné which means ‘the people’) call Monument Valley Tsé Bii’Ndzisgaii (the valley within the rock). The valley drive is a seventeen mile unpaved very bumpy road. You can drive it yourself or take a guided tour. Next time we go, I’d love to do one of the tours!

We would have been tempted to take a guided tour this time, but it was freezing and so windy…and the only tour trucks we saw were all open to the elements. In the picture above you can see the dust blowing around.

The Hub has a few hogans around it. The Navajo see the Hub as a fireplace in the middle of a giant hogan. A hogan is the traditional Navajo home and if you look closely as you travel through Navajo land, you’ll see that pretty much every modern home as a hogan near it. The traditional hogan is still used by the Navajo today for ceremonial purposes.

We had to do the obligatory Forrest Gump Point photo. This was a surprisingly busy road. People would dash out for pictures in between cars. But, it’s a fun shot.

We stayed at Gouldings RV Park and you can see by the picture that we were pretty much the only ones there. I think one night we had four other campers there, but that was the most we saw at our RV Park. I think the Lodge and the hotel over in the valley were all pretty busy.

One afternoon we did the short hike from the RV Park to the Gouldings Arch. It was pretty short but it was nice to stretch our legs. I don’t really have any info on the arch, it’s not huge…but it’s a good size.

We took the opportunity to hit some places in the Monument Valley area while we were there. We went to see Mexican Hat (picture on the right). You can drive right up to it. It’s called Mexican Hat because it looks like a big sombrero. We saw quite a few horses on our explorations. I’m not sure if they were wild or not. There weren’t a lot of fences around.

Goosenecks State Park is a great little park near Blanding, UT. You can see the San Juan River makes a few tight twists and turns, making a gooseneck…or if you want to get really technical it’s called an entrenched meander. The river runs about a 1,000 feet below the overview. When we were there, we had the place to ourselves. It was wonderful. I took several pictures, but I don’t have a wide angle lens, so I settled for a panorama on my phone to capture all three bends in the gooseneck. I think we had to pay $5 at the self-pay station. There were some picnic tables around and a few primitive campsites along with a vault toilet.

After we left Goosenecks State Park we headed to Valley of the Gods. It’s kind of like a mini Monument Valley. We stopped here for a picnic lunch and had the entire place to ourselves…the view was pretty superb. You’ll have a hard time finding a restaurant with views like that. Valley of the Gods is run by the BLM and doesn’t really have any hiking trails, but you can roam around to your hearts content as you take in all of the buttes, mesas, sandstone towers, and pinnacles. This remote area used to be a part of Bears Ears National Monument. The coolest part though…two episodes of Doctor Who were filmed in Valley of the Gods! This family of Whovians was pretty stoked to find that out. It’s always fun to try and spot areas from shows/movies as we explore someplace.

We had some amazing foodies while we were staying in the Monument Valley area. We ate at The Lodge and everything we had was amazing. I had to have a Navajo Taco (right). Someone else had the Spicy Pork in Green Chili Sauce with Fry Bread (left). The menu is filled with Navajo specialties and didn’t disappoint.

We had a great time exploring the Monument Valley area! We’d like to go back one day when the weather is a little warmer…not in the summer…but warmer than frigid, so we can take a guided tour through the valley. You get to go to other parts of the valley on the guided tour so we’ll get to see something new!

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour