For Fall Break this year we wanted to go somewhere fairly warm where we could camp and hike and not sweat too much or freeze to death. The Four Corners area of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico fit the bill perfectly! It is beautiful there during this time of the year. We camped on free BLM land, hiked to several Anasazi Indian ruins, and visited Four Corners, and Monument Valley. Being a former history teacher, I'm a big proponent of giving kids as many hands-on experiences related to history as possible and this trip definitely provided that opportunity. Until this trip the oldest buildings I've ever visited were in London and Paris. Who knew that I could find buildings older than those in my own backyard?
The first ruin that we visited appeared out of nowhere in the beautiful red stone cliffs while we were hiking. It was my first time ever visiting Anasazi ruins and it was very exciting to suddenly see the ruins. The first picture is a panorama that shows the stone structure as well as the cliff walls where there were a lot of pictographs, and a rather steep portion of cliff that the Anasazi had chiseled moki steps into to make the crossing possible.
The sun on the beautiful red-rock while we were hiking.
Our kids are finally old enough where we have brief stretches when both are hiking on their own to feet without complaining--those moments are perfect.
This ruin had a few beautiful metates and several shards of pottery and corn cobs.
One of the coolest things that we saw were the "finger-print" markings of the Anasazi that built this structure.
While we were exploring the ruins we were able to watch this beautiful sunset. I couldn't help but imagine what life must have been like for the Anasazi when they lived here at the time, I'll bet they witnessed many beautiful sunsets from this view.
We awoke bright and early on the second day of our trip and headed to the Four Corners Monument. I'm still kicking myself for not getting a good picture of the New Mexico sign, it is the only state that I hadn't visited yet.
My oldest daughter saw people doing the splits to be in all four states at once. She pulled it of with ease. My three-year old on the other hand tried really hard, maybe when she's a little taller.
Around the monument there are vendor stalls where several beautiful hand-made Navajo items are sold. My girls were thrilled when their dad agreed to buy them necklaces made with beads and juniper berries.
The Cholla Cactus plants were beautiful, and very sharp. We got a demonstration on that.
The road leading to Monument Valley was stunning. It was a bit too late in the day to pay the entrance fee and tour the park so we opted to just drive around the outside.
Then for fun we went off-roading and discovered this beautiful peak. We've never seen anything like it in the area before.
Our final hike of the trip started with a little misdirection, but we did stumble upon this ancient granary, and a very cool rock formation with a few hundred yards worth of natural waterfall pools in the sandstone. I would bet the Anasazi used this as a water source.
My kids had a blast hiking up the sandstone.
The final ruin that we toured was equally as amazing as the first. This one was located inside a large cave. At some point in the last 1,000 years there were some rockfalls but much of the cave remained undamaged.
The remains of a kiva.
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