(As an aside, the boys had a backpacking adventure and Lucy had a big East Coast college trip, which I don't have pics of that I should put on the blog, which came before and during all this). We took off Wednesday morning for our spring break adventure. Our first stop was an attempt to find a slot canyon, which didn't happen, near the Chama river. We did find that there is plenty more exploring we need to do in this area and we had a nice picnic lunch. Then we headed across the way to explore Ghost Ranch a place with Georgia O'Keefe history. She was one of the first New Yorkers that came to New Mexico and wet her pants with excitement and came West bring an East coast mentality to the West (pet peeve, can you tell?). Anyway, it was a fun hike on red cliffs.
After our Ghost Ranch adventure we drove to Chaco Canyon (the dirt road in is BAD, so it takes some time) in time to set up camp and make dinner. The boys are so capable. They set up the tent and it is so nice to have children that can do things. Anyway we enjoyed our dutch oven chicken and our fun desert camp spot.
In the morning we ate and set out to explore. So many incredible old pueblos. We did the mesa top hike which was good fun. My neuroma was acting up which made it hard for me, but fun nonetheless.
We had service on top of the mesa so we had to keep our snapchat streaks going. Priorities.
After the hike we took a ranger led tour at Bonita Pueblo. So amazing, this giant culture existed out here in the middle of nowhere. They believe though it could house thounsands it was mostly used as a ceremonial center and people would travel to it. It was the hub and the culture spread out from Chaco.
We went back to camp and made chili and corn bread and then before s'mores they non gimpy folks hiked on top of the Mesa across from the campsite for the sunset.
Our campsite in the background.
Then it was S'mores.
That night we went to the ranger night sky program. It was awesome. You could see the milky way. For the first time in my life I could actually see the constellations because with every star showing you can actually see why perhaps Taurus looks like a bull. Chaco is a designated night sky park. Anyway the ranger was perfect. Not too serious, not too goofy, super knowledgeable, and totally passionate about astronomy. Great experience. In the morning we ate and packed up camp and headed out for the next phase of adventuring. They seriously need to grade the dirt road. It's a problem.
