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August 11th 2008

Published: August 11th 2008

Well, where we last left off, we'd gotten into Farmington, NM, but it was too late in the day to visit Aztec Ruins National Monument. So we went there this morning. It didn't open till 8:00, so we had breakfast a diner next to the hotel, then headed over. Actions tend to have equal and opposite reactions, and since we were originally planning on leaving the area at 8:00, that set us back a bit.

However, we decided that it was worth it. In fact, the Aztec Ruins - which are not Aztec in origin at all - were well worth the $5 admission that the National Parks Service charges. As it turns out, these ruins are the work of Pueblo Indians and the name is a misnomer that was based on a poor understanding of native history when first discovered by early explorers.

The pueblo structure was actually quite large and quite old. The ranger told us that some of the timbers used in its structure had been dated to around 1100 AD. It was used for over 200 years, possibly by more then one tribe after an initial decline or abandonment. In any case, it was permanently abandoned and burned prior to arrival of Europeans to North America.

The self-guided tour goes through part of the structure itself. These rooms here are lower-level, and thought to be storage, while others were tombs. These rooms all had doors from one to the other, but there were no hallways in the structure. Living quarters were in upper levels and often accessed by ladders from the roof.

Variations in stone work indicate that the structure was repaired in various places by later inhabitants. It was also continually built and expanded upon, so the outer rooms were also different from the inner ones in places.

The pueblo had a of round rooms called kivas. These were ceremonial rooms, and came in two basic sizes. Smaller ones were family-sized, whereas larger great kivas were for community activities.

The Great Kiva here was reconstructed in the 1930s after being excuvated, so you can actually go through it and see what it was like inside. We were particularly impressed by the stone steps that led down to the center of it. More specifically, you could see how worn the step was right where your foot falls, and that really drove home how very old the place was and how many people must have trod there over the years. All things considered, the whole experience was very thought provoking. When we were at Rhyolite, we commented on how it gave the impression of exploring ancient ruins, even though it wasn't that old in the grand scheme of things. But here, this was the real deal. This was a structure that stood for close to a thousand years, offering clues to the society that once inhabited it.

From Aztec, we headed south. We crossed over the Continental Divide, and drove into Albuquerque around 1:00. I got off of the highway on Central Ave, which is another old section of US66, now New Mexico Historic Rt66. We had lunch at the Rt66 Diner, which was pretty good. This month's milk shake special is blueberry. Ashley and I can both verify that it was good too.

We followed Central Ave east until it ran back into I-40, then continued on our way - but not before passing the Octopus Carwash. The twins were particularly impressed by that.

Our intent was make it into Roswell by mid-afternoon in order to check out all the UFO related attractions. However, the consequence of our delay early in the day meant that we didn't get there till almost 6:00, and most of those places seem to close at 5:00. We did walk down through town after dinner and go into a few UFO-themed gift shops.

We had also planned to camp over night at Bottomless Lakes State Park. However, we drove a heavy storm that turned day into night and then found out that there was a flash-flood warning in effect overnight, as well more heavy thunderstorms. So we decided it would be prudent to forgo the park and find a hotel. That proved fortunate, since it just started thunder and lightening as began writing this, and now it is raining rather heavily again. We didn't really want to deal with that in tents overnight, and then have to pack them up wet in the morning...

Anyway, that's the news from Roswell, NM. Tomorrow we'll drive on into Texas and pay a friend a visit...

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