Monthly Archives: May 2014

Fist thing is first, after breakfast that is.  As we have been making are way around to see all of the sites we have been making a special point to see each of the Capitol buildings.  So, since we were in Phoenix it only made sense to stop in.  The Arizona Capitol building is actually called the Capitol museum and it is exactly that.  The staff at the visitor stations were beyond helpful they gave us a map and information on the exhibits.  The kids were quite taken and talked to them extensively, then we walked around the Capitol.

After we checked out the Capitol and visited each floor we returned to the visitor center/gift shop.  The clerk there had put together some “school group” bags and offered them to the kids.  They had two post card,s a pencil, two stickers of the state seal, and a little copper pot and small pebble of turquoise in them.  The kids were thrilled.  They explained that they are usually for school groups but since the kids were homeschooled they wanted to offer it to them too.  She also stamped a copper print paper with the Capitol passport stamp for us to put in our passport book. We bought a few extra postcards and state seal stickers and left.
I wish I had more pictures but it was the perfect time to visit as a lot of the cacti were in bloom especially the saguaro which is the Arizona state flower.

Our first stop after the Capitol was in Cape Verde at Montezuma’s Castle.  It is a whole community of pueblo style homes built 50 feet up steep wall in little nook in the lime stone.  They believe the community was there about 700 years ago and chose to build in the side of the cliff to be out of the flood plane and for protection.

Tuzigoot ruins also in Cape Verde

Then we took the scenic route up to Flagstaff through Sedona, which was AMAZING!!!

The kids kept saying that, “we need to get an apartment here mommy!”  “Are you going to bring us back here to play, we need to live here and have an apartment here mommy.”
God sure did know what he was doing this amazing planet and people he created is so diverse and amazing!
– Sarah

After a late night in Albuquerque we headed north up to Santa Fe for the night.  I didn’t even think about the Capitol building being closed on the weekends, but we did enjoy walking around it and the neighboring visitor’s center.

We had heard from a former resident that if we were ever to go through New Mexico the thing to see is Taos Pueblo where the Puebloan Indians still lived in the 1000 year old adobe ( mud and straw brick) three story tall (in parts) ancient pueblos.  Here are a few pictures from our drive and lunch.

I think we found the best place in Taos to eat.  We were outside in the open air with fun Spanish music giving it a very vacationesc feel, and the food was amazing.  That put us out at Taos Pueblo about 1:45 which was perfect for unbeknown to us it was a feast day (a holiday), and there were traditional festivities on the reservation.  This did mean though that we were forbidden to take any pictures.  The Corn dance started at 2:00pm in front of the small Catholic Church.  A large group of young women in traditional dresses clutched in both hands what appeared to be corn sprouts. While a smaller group of traditionally dressed young teenage boys shook a hand made maraca.  A larger group of village elder men sat on stools in a circle off to the corner of their dancing and beat drums and sang.  They continued in this fashion all the way around the walls of the traditional boundaries of Taos Pueblo.  It was fun to watch but by two hrs into it (and maybe the beating sun had something to do with it too) the kids were ready to check out the old cemetery and leave.  It is the U. S.’s first living heritage center.  You all should look it up.
We decided to take a different route home to Farmington that took us over the mountains and that turned out to be an amazing drive.  First was the Rio Grande only miles outside of Taos.

A lady selling trinkets at the Rio Grande tipped us off to the Earthship off the grid subdivision just up the road so` we made that our next stop.

We got there just after the visitor center closed but they said we could look around.  All of their buildings are made of recycled material.  They kids were totally amazed as we tried to explain what living “off the grid” means.
From there we climbed up into the Sangre de Cristo mountains.  If the beauty didn’t take your breath away the altitude would have.  It almost looked like we were back home in Oregon with the mountains full of conifers and green grassy valleys.

I didn’t have quick enough reflexes to get a picture of the black bear we saw but he was pretty cute.  It is hard to believe they live in as low of latitude as northern New Mexico.
The sun went down just a short time before getting back to our apartment.

And upon arrival we discovered our first package from home (Salem,OR) from Grandma and Grandpa Owens. Efficient Carpet Cleaner t-shirts that the kids have been asking for!

-goodnight
Sarah