After making a rather slow recovery from our trip to China, we finally found the time & energy to try a shorter trip to the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. I had visited this area back in the '70s with a friend from high school, Ann Rasor, who was then working at Mesa Verde as a park ranger.

The Chaco ruins are more remote and difficult to access than Mesa Verde, and that makes them seem more untouched. But explorations of the area date back to the 1800s. Still, going to Chaco had to be more thoroughly planned out in advance than our visits to other ancient Indian sites in the past.

In late April we drove down through the San Luis Valley, stopping at the Great Sand Dunes on the way. We had originally planned to stop there on the way back, but predictions of strong winds and colder weather later in the week led us to alter our plans.

It's amazing how these immense dunes were created by the action of the winds over and around the nearby mountains, and how unique this whole formation really is. Unfortunately, we did not get to walk up on the Dunes. We had not come prepared to ford the shallow but wide creek that flows in front of the Dunes.

We continued on to Durango for supper, and then headed south to Farmington, New Mexico, where we stayed for three nights, giving us two whole days to spend exploring this part of the Four Corners area.

Next morning was a perfect spring day to visit Chaco Canyon. We drove east on Highway 64 & then turned south on 550 to Nageezi. The first few miles were okay, but the last 13 miles into the park were unpaved, and very rough. And we often found ourselves going east again as well as south and west on the meandering back-country road. We tried to track our progress, but the GPS was no help at all. As far as it was concerned we were traveling "off road."

Our first stop was at the very informative visitors center. There we acquired guidebooks & advice for doing a late morning/afternoon tour. I was hoping to connect with Cheryl Chamberlain, a former Hinkley High School librarian, who, along with her husband, were working as volunteers in the park. But they were apparently out somewhere, so we headed out on a circuit that would include the main sites.

The first one where we stopped was Hungo Pavi, which has not been excavated. It's pretty much just as it was was when discovered back in the 1800s. The walls were so well constructed that they're still standing after a thousand years. Other ruins have undergone various degrees of reconstruction, and also provide better walking access, even for people with disabilities. We found two van loads of seniors from Arizona exploring several sites along with us at times.

Our second stop was Pueblo Bonito. As we walked among the ruins, it was hard to imagine thousands of people living and working here. This was the center of Chacoan culture from A. D. 859-1150.

There were a great many rooms to explore. But we decided to skip a few with low doorways, too low for anyone with back problems. We did have an opportunity to observe several crews of workers doing restoration work. We then walked along the Petroglyph Trail to Chetro Ketl. Sadly, even in a place as remote as this, there were still those who had to leave their graffiti amidst the ancient markings on the walls of the canyon. I wonder, if the graffiti of today will one day be considered a great archaeological find.

Pueblo Bonito & Chertro Ketl are examples of Chacoan architecture called a Great House, which is D-shaped. There are an estimated 500 rooms in Chertro Ketl, arranged on 3 floors. This site has not been excavated. Modern science has new ways to document the area without disturbing it. This two-site stop took us over two hours, so we decided to pass the next two, Kin Kletso & Pueblo del Arroyo. But we just had to stop at Casa Rinconada to see one of the largest kivas in the Southwest. Again access was not too strenuous.

By early afternoon it was getting hot, and we were glad we were not trying to do this walk in the summer, when it's even hotter & drier. It would then be best to do this all in the early morning. On our way out of the park, w e stopped again at the visitors center to see if Cheryl was back. This time we learned that they were both out in a remote area, "archiving relics," or some thing like that. It's really great that retirement allows many opportunities to pursue a variety of interests & be of service to others as well.

After a long day, we had a quick supper back in Farmington, followed by a quiet evening in our room. There was no indoor pool at our motel, but Farmington has a nice public indoor facility, which I took advantage of for a swim the next morning.

That day turned out to be very windy & we were glad that we had not waited to tour Chaco. There were two other historical sites nearer Farmington that we could explore in the afternoon. They had apparently been connected to Chaco by a rather well-developed road system created by the Pueblo Indians.

We started with the Salmon Ruins just east of Farmington. It is run by the county & is named for the family that farmed the area. It was small in comparison to the other ruins but well kept. There was also a walking tour of the pioneer farm as well. Then we headed north to Aztec & toured the ruins there. The Aztec ruins had nothing to do with the Aztecs but were a part of Puebloan culture. The unique feature here is a completely reconstructed kiva, making it possible to see just what the whole structure would have been like.

For our trip back to Colorado we decided to take a more southerly route through the reservation & up through Antonito. Again, even though we were on paved roads this time, our GPS didn't seem to recognize the road in New Mexico, but then did when we crossed into Colorado. We decided to make a side trip to Manassa, for a quick visit to the Jack Dempsey museum, but disappointed that it was closed.

So we had a picnic lunch near the little park, but eating in the car because it was now cold as well as windy. It was a good thing we had visited the Sand Dunes on the way down, rather than on our way back from New Mexico. It wouldn't have been very pleasant out there in the open in this kind of weather.

Our next adventure should take us on a road trip to Wisconsin for Bob's 50th college reunion. We'll take a fairly direct route there, but I'm sure we'll find some interesting diversions on the way back.