Our life is ruined

I think we’ve seen the last of cliff dwellings and pueblos for a little while.  We’ve been saturated with ruins over the last few weeks in New Mexico and Arizona.  At least each one is unique in one way or another.  I’ve got to say, though, that the exhibits aren’t that different from each other.  I think we’ve learned enough about manos and metates (grinding stones for grains) along with use of the yucca plants and trade among various cultures.  The funny part is when national parks give conflicting stories of the same thing.  One park said that cinders from the Sunset Crater eruption helped farming by keeping in moisture.  Another one said that is wrong and a change in rainfall made it easier to farm.  Even the National Park Service can’t come up with a common story?

Walnut Canyon is full of cliff dwellings.  You go down 240 steps (the equivalent of 18 stories), walk a short path, and then climb back up.  The park even keeps a defibrillator handy for people having problems with the climb!  We met a couple that we saw at the crater hike.  We all agreed that climbing these stairs was much easier than the crater.  We all fell asleep early the night we climbed the crater.

There were a lot of small dwellings in these cliffs.  You can walk into some, but most you see across the canyon.  Unfortunately it used to be typical for tourists and ‘professional’ looters to come in and remove artifacts.  They even dynamited walls so they could get better lighting and access more items.  Very different now!

We also did a short stop at Lowell Observatory (yes, I like observatories).  This is where Pluto was discovered.  Well, Pluto wasn’t here, but you know what I mean.