Being a day late with this post, leaving Farmington already feels like a long time ago. We packed, walked the dog, vacuumed/cleaned and then headed out around 10:30am. We wanted to tour the Capitol building in Denver, so we needed to get there on a week day so we didn’t have to put in too many miles. We drove up through Ignacio where they were having some kind of multi cultural fiesta.
It took all of about 15 minutes to walk through it but I think it was still fun to see. Next we headed towards Chimney Rock National Monument and we lucked out there too. They were also having a summer festival having no connection to the Fiesta in Ignacio. The kids dug for bones.
Made mini woven rugs.
Had petroglyphs painted on their faces.
Caleb’s is the migration symbol which he felt was quite appropriate for us.
Then the kids made clay pots, and smashed soaked yucca leaves until only the fibers remained.
Chad and Caleb also practiced launching a spear with an atlatle. We also took turns looking at the sun through a filtered telescope and learning about sun spots and magnetic fields.
What a jackpot! The kids left Chimney Rock declaring that it was most definitely their favorite National Monument/Park. From there we headed up to Lake Vallecito to camp for the night. We slowly drove around the lake and checked each of the four or five campgrounds for available spots to no avail. We found a day use area and piled out of the car to eat dinner lakeside.
We changed our plan to heading towards Denver, checking out campgrounds as we went. We didn’t have to wait too long before pulling into the Ute Campground, which was primitive and nearly empty, with quite a few available sites. Perfect!
-Sarah
Owens Endeavors 