Monday, July 8, was the first day of our trip where breakfast wasn't provided by either hospitable hotels or generous relatives. Fortunately we had come prepared with a bag of powdered donuts and mini-boxes of cereal in our food tote (or ood-fay ote-tay, as the kids call it), so we had a little in-room breakfast. We loaded up the van and checked out. Before we left, however, I was able to take this shot from our room's balcony:
We drove from Far View Lodge deeper into the park, to the Chapin Museum area, which is located at one of the concentrations of physical remnants of the ancient Puebloan civilization. First we took a hike down to "Spruce Tree House" where we got a close-up look at a well-preserved dwelling built into the side of a cliff under an overhang. Two Rangers were there to answer questions (and to make sure no one hurt the walls. There can be some pretty sketchy characters around there - see below!)
We next took a drive around the top of the Mesa which highlighted various stages of architecture over the last 2000 years. Beginning with pit houses and continuing through pueblos and onto cliff houses, it was amazing to see how people in such a difficult, dry area had persevered and shaped their environment - in harmony with it. Especially noteworthy was how each structure contained a kiva - a round, sunken, ceremonial chamber.
Debbie, with a kiva to her right.
We returned to the Chapin Museum area for lunch and then made it to our noon appointment for a guided tour of Cliff Palace, the largest ancient structure in the park. Our vacation had definitely heated up by this point, so we broke out our water bottles and took them along. We got right up close to the rooms of Cliff Palace and appreciated learning about the life and customs of the ancient Puebloans. We had to climb 4 ladders on the tour, but we all managed with no problems!
Before leaving the park, we made sure to get our passport stamped and took a brief tour of the museum. Also, as a reward for no complaining during our hot tour of Cliff Palace, we rewarded the kids with fudgesicles at the restaurant. (Debbie and I had ice cream sandwiches for our treat!)
Our last stop was at the main entrance sign so we could take a picture. The kids were getting a little tired of taking pictures by this point, so they decided to ham it up:
Our next stop really left us feeling cornered when we... (to be continued!)
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