Wupatki
The first national monument stop for the weekend was at Wupatki.
We stopped to hike the Box Canyon ruins, The kids were amazed by the buildings, and it only got better. At the back end of the trail, we got to actually walk through one of the ruins!
After our Box Canyon hike, we drove by and only stopped to look at The Citadel, so that we would have more time at the visitor's center, and to see the Wupatki ruin. It was incredible!
The hike down to the bottom of Wupatki, led us past the main ruin, as well as the gathering circle, and the ball court- all amazing sights in their own right. But the whole hike would have been more than worth it just to see the blow hole! IT may not look like much, but it was AMAZING!
Cool air actually blows up out of this crack in the earth's surface as if there were an electric fan in there. (See Reagan's hat flying off!) It was truly incredible, and is really beyond describing. This home of the wind spirit is something that really must be experienced first hand!
Reagan completed her Jr Ranger program, but it was above the level that Adam could complete here. The ranger did give him a coloring sheet to design his won pottery though, so he felt very included. :-) We got a book at the visitor's center shop: ...If You Lived With The Hopi, by Anne Kamma. Reading it gave us all a better understanding of one of the pueblo building peoples. It's a Scholastic book, so it's geared for kids, and really gives them a lot of information from a child's perspective, but also about the people and their lifestyle as a whole .
Sunset Crater
On Sunday morning we headed back to the north of Flagstaff to visit Sunset Crater.
Reagan is very into volcanoes right now, so doing preparatory reading for this one was easy. One of Reagan's favorite books right now is Pompeii: A Doomed City by Rona Putterman, that describes the events surrounding the eruption of Mt Vesuvius, and the modern archaeological efforts to unearth the city. She has read this, and much of the Eyewitness Book, Volcano & Earthquake many times at home, and brought them along in the car to read on the trip up to Flagstaff along with a Smithsonian mini book on Volcanoes that they had collected from Subway meal awhile back. She also read The Magic School Bus Inside The Earth by by Joanna Cole, and a couple of other books.
We spent a good deal of time in the visitor's center learning about the geologic history of the region and of Sunset Crater itself, and about the different tribal stories and beliefs about the volcano and it's importance to their cultures. Then we hiked the lava flow. It was a truly amazing experience, with great views of the volcano, and a fantastic up close experience with different kinds of lava formations. Including squeeze ups, hornitos and lava tubes. This kids loved exploring the lava field along the trail, but were sure to not climb on any of the rock.
Walnut Canyon
Out last stop was at Walnut Canyon National Monument.
It was a long way done and back up on the Island Trail, but well worth it! Reagan's favorite part was what she called "the secret passage" where we passed between rocks onto the "island" from the canyon wall.
Just around the corner we got to the first set of cliff dwellings. The trail led us right along the rock face, and we were able to walk through some of them!
Below:Some of the amazing cliff dwellings of the Sinauga.
After completing the trail, the kids sat down and filled out the remainder of their Jr Ranger booklets (Reagan did the readers one, and Adam completed the non-reader one.) They turned them in and after reviewing them with the ranger, took the Jr. Ranger pledge. Over the weekend, Reagan completed Jr Ranger programs at Wupatki, Sunset Crater AND Walnut Canyon, and Adam completed both Sunset Crater and Walnut Canyon as well. They learned so much, and enjoyed themselves to the extreme!
And of course Catie was along too!!! She tried toast at breakfast on Sunday, and LOVED it! This picture is of her with her 2nd slice!
And here she is in the backpack where she happily rode most of the weekend. :-)
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