The second stage of the road trip took us to planned and unplanned stops. We just happened to hear about some Aztec ruins that were near the hotel we had stayed in. Our only plans for this day were to go to 4 Corners so that Scott could have his Birthday Burrito Bonanza. Only people who watched David Letterman in his early days will know what that's all about.
Anyway, we decided to stop at the ruins just to check them out. It was really fascinating! It is an ongoing excavation site with a top notch visitor's center and beautifully maintained ruin displays. It was a very pleasant surprise and I think we all really enjoyed it. In fact, one of the rangers told us about another site that was in the opposite direction that we had intended to travel. We debated whether or not to go, but decided it could wait for another trip because we had a full day ahead of us.
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| Scott with the shirt Leslie made him |
The following pictures are random shots I took at the Aztec Ruins. We got there just when it opened and the girls signed up to do a junior ranger challenge. We discovered that the ranger challenges at each national park can run from a basic scavenger hunt to actual GPS challenges. It is a wonderful program that educates and entertains the kids while they visit the parks.
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| Sophie at one of the museum displays |
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| Maggie learning about the site |
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| Seth, Scott, and Leslie checking out some artifacts |
Most of the site provides visitor access. They ask that you stay on the marked paths, but, the paths take you through many of the ruins. There were several groups actually working on dig sites but they were cordoned off so we couldn't see what they were doing.
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| Maggie |
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| Seth, Leslie, Maggie, and Sophie |
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| Mimi and the grands |
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| Scott, Seth, Sophie, Mimi, Maggie, and Leslie |
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| Maggie with her Jr. Ranger medal. |
The next stop on this leg of the trip was 4 Corners. It's another spot like Roswell. If you are near, you really should go just because you can say you've been there. We probably wouldn't have gone if Scott hadn't wanted to eat a burrito in each state.
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| Maggie met a new friend. |
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| The weather was beautiful and the clear sky was amazing. It is a well maintained spot but not much to see or do. |
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There was a long line of people waiting to have their picture taken on the metal plate that marks the location
where the 4 state meet. It moved fairly quickly. |
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| In the time that Leslie and her girls spent waiting in line, I followed Scott around and took his picture eating his burritos. |
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| Lesie and the girls |
I guess you could say our stops today were a good way to break up the monotony of driving from through New Mexico.
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