Aztec Ruins

Disclaimer: no Aztecs lived here.

One by one we are crossing national parks and monuments off our list. This time it was Aztec Ruins National Monument. We actually didn't set out to go there but were just doing some general scouting of the area, so all we have are phone pictures. But they came out pretty good, although a couple came out not quite true in color.

The great kiva of the pueblo was reconstructed in the 1930's. You never know if the depiction is accurate to what was there originally; it is only an educated guess. In this pueblo the kivas had two concentric rings. What were the little rooms formed between?

In this case they installed small ladders from the main floor up to the access holes.

The experience was enhanced by the recording of soft native flute music. 

 

Another large kiva, this one excavated but not reimagined and reconstructed.

Map showing original size of the pueblo.

Rooms to the east of the kivas. 

A series of doors led from room to room. 

Something tells me that the residents were shorter than 5'6" or that they spent a lot of time bending over.

This door led into a series of intact rooms. 

Looking through another room, there is still a portion of an original woven mat or shade. This tells us that they used such between rooms.

Here you can see the construction of the ceiling/floor of upper stories. many buildings were three to four stories tall. If you look on the outside of buildings, you will see large holes where the beams would have been and smaller holes on the adjacent walls for the cross pieces.

Partially excavated showing the concentric rings. 

A blooming yucca.

The quality of the masonry is astonishing. And there is decoration: note the dark line of stone that runs along the length. The guidebook said it may have represented a river. Maybe it was just a decoration.

Below are two panorama shots courtesy of Tom.

We learned quite a bit at this site that we have been able to apply to later ruins ancestral villages we have been visiting.

New Mexico is Cool

Actually most of the month plus we spent in New Mexico was very cool. Cool and windy and rainy. People have tried to convince me that it has been unusual weather.

Above: the Sandias taken from the Kuaua ruins next to Coronado Campground. The museum was closed when we visited and scheduled to reopen on May 3rd. We meant to go back but it will have to wait until our next visit.

Coronado Campground outside Bernalillo was a great find. Only $20 per night for 30-amp service (and we certainly didn't need 50-amp for air conditioning). There are only about 25 sites in the campground so it was very quiet. Each site has a uniquely painted three-sided building for the table.

The Rio Grande from the park. During the days that the Kuaua Pueblo was occupied it would freeze solid in the winter.

We took a Sunday drive along Highway 550 and Highway 4, the Jemez Mountain Trail. It's a beautiful drive with amazing scenery.

Think Sedona, only with less people. Apparently it gets busier during the summer.

After the pueblos, the road traveled much higher into the mountains.

Much, much higher.  And into a thunderstorm. 

This might look like snow, but it is in fact hail.

We ended up in Los Alamos, where we visited the Historical Museum. Yes, that Los Alamos: the home of The Bomb. It was . . . interesting, thinking about those times. The town itself is pretty, divided onto three mesas. Before being appropriated by the federal government all that was there was a boarding school for boys of wealthy families.

Dropping down from Los Alamos to the valley north of Santa Fe.

I had to share this picture. New Mexico wine in a rack at Costco. No, we didn't try it, but aren't the bottles pretty?

Another drive up Highway 550, taken from the RV on our way up to Farmington.

This was just out of Bernalillo. 

The Pueblo of Zia seen on the Mesa below. 

 White Mesa at San Ysidro is at the intersection of Highways 4 and 550.

Enjoy the colors and the drive. 

Just for fun we drove out to Shiprock in the Navajo Nation, then made a loop trip up to the Four Corners Monument.

My picture of Shiprock itself unfortunately did not come out.

 I was in four different states at once.

There are native vendor booths set up all around the monument. Most of the bead work is gaudy and redundant from booth to booth. But I admit that I bought two pairs of handcrafted silver earings.

The road goes up into the Ute reservation in southern Colorado before heading back to the town of Shiprock.

Colorado is cool too, with wide open spaces.

More to come.