ancestral puebloans
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A tour of Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona
I don’t remember when I first decided I wanted to visit Canyon de Chelly. I think it was one of those things where I heard about it or saw a photo that really captured my interest, and from that moment on, it was on my list of places to visit one day. So when we… Continue reading
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A guide to visiting Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico
Never go to New Mexico and Arizona in July. This isn’t a lesson we’ve just learned. After previous family summer vacations to southern Utah and the Grand Canyon, we weren’t at all unfamiliar with the unpleasantly high temperatures and dehydratingly low humidities of the southwestern US in the middle of summer. In fact, we initially… Continue reading
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Chimney Rock, Yucca House, and other southwestern Colorado snapshots
For the past couple weeks, I’ve been recounting our Memorial Day weekend trip to southwestern Colorado to visit the Ancestral Puebloan ruins of Hovenweep and Canyons of the Ancients. We also made brief stops at two other nearby national monuments, a roadside attraction, and spent some time in the town of Cortez. Since none of… Continue reading
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A guide to visiting Hovenweep National Monument, Colorado & Utah
For at least 10,000 years, the desert southwest has been inhabited by humans. Initially, nomadic groups roamed through the region, but starting in about 500 CE, as farming proliferated and life became more stationary, permanent settlements were constructed. Over the next 700 years, thousands of dwellings of many types were built throughout the region, generally… Continue reading
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Desert dwellings – Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Colorado
Memorial weekend is a tricky time of year for Colorado adventures. Three years ago, we went to the drier and more desert-like western part of the state and the weather was perfect. Two years ago, we went into the mountains and got snowed on. So when I sat down to plan this year’s Memorial Day… Continue reading
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Pueblos and petroglyphs – Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico
“The grandest thing I ever saw” – Adolph Bandelier, archaeologist Nestled in Frijoles Canyon, which has been carved into the Pajarito Plateau, is an 800-year-old pueblo called Tyuonyi. Tyuonyi (pronounced KYU-weh-nee, and no, that’s not a typo; it’s been three months, and my brain still struggles with seeing a T and having to make a… Continue reading
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Indigenous inscriptions – Petroglyph National Monument, New Mexico
Located on the western edge of Albuquerque, New Mexico, hidden amongst the jumbled landscape, are more than 20,000 (not a typo!) historic rock carvings called petroglyphs. This area is part of the Rio Grande rift, formed over millions of years by the movement of tectonic plates. This rift stretches from central Colorado to central New… Continue reading
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A smattering of New Mexico history
Thanksgiving road trip has become somewhat of a tradition for us. We can both usually get some time off work, and it turns out November is a pretty good time of year to travel around the southwestern US. After spending the previous two Thanksgivings in Utah, we decided to mix things up a little this… Continue reading
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Life on the Edge of a Cliff – Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado (part II)
(Read part I of this post here) Most people don’t know this, but I took a bunch of anthropology classes in college because for a while I thought I wanted to be an archaeologist. I eventually changed my mind – long story – but I still find archaeology to be incredibly cool. So for me,… Continue reading
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Into the Past – Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado (part I)
A couple years ago, I wrote all about Mesa Verde based on my previous visit to this fascinating park. But my fiance had never been there and it’s a place I was happy to return to, so last summer we headed out for a week long exploration of southwestern Colorado, including 2.5 days at Mesa… Continue reading
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Colorado Destinations: Manitou Cliff Dwellings
This past winter began fairly mildly, but by March – right about the time I was ready for winter to end – the snow arrived with a vengeance and lingered for nearly 3 more months. The final snow storm arrived 3 days before Memorial Weekend, throwing a wrench into everyone’s plans and thwarting efforts to… Continue reading