Hey everyone, on our last week off, before Jason's parents came to town, we took a day trip to Bandelier National Monument. It is the site of historic Indian cliff dwellings and petroglyphs as well as beautiful nature all around. Here is a photo journal of our time in the park:
This cliff dwelling had a pretty small entrance...but Mandi still thought it was super cute!
Both of us coming out of one of the cliff dwellings. Amanda really wanted one of her own because they were a perfect place to crawl in and look out over miles of nature and be safe and cool! Jason was not quite as enamored...largely because of 4-5 foot ceilings!
On the left is a side view of what is called the "Long House" dwelling. It was likely very impressive in it's day, covering probably 200 feet along the cliff side. We're still not sure what the boxed areas on the ground were for...we might know if we had had the dollar bill it took to get the self-guided tour booklet. Occasionally we could eavesdrop on some other tourist reading from it but that was often too creepy to get the whole story!
Above are some amazing formations that came from volcanic ash...the entire area surrounds a dormant volcano and has tons of pumice stone which probably kept the Indians' feet very soft...
Obligatory together in the cliff dwelling entrance photo...if we had to live in one this would be it...6 foot ceilings and wide enough for several people!
This was a fierce snake we happened upon in the wooded part of the park...ignore the giant prehistoric rolly polly in the shot...we are super brave!
This pic was taken only a few hundred yards from the cliffs. It was amazing how much it felt like home with all of the green trees and grass and even some forest creatures. If you looked one way you could have been in Oak Mountain State Park but if you turned 180 degrees you could clearly see petroglyphs and cliff ruins...what an amazing vantage point!
It's so nice to be able to see places we wouldn't see without our current travel journey.
Jason & Amanda
and it is so nice to be able to see places that I can see without your current travel JOURNAL! Thanks so much! I wait for this pictures and am having a great time traveling in proxy. lol! Hey you think Matilda could make it up on of those cliffs?
ReplyDelete"ignore the giant prehistoric roly poly" riiiiight. that made me laugh. why isn't the snake eating it? any idea what kind of snake it was? phew. you guys are brave! glad you got to have one last adventure.
ReplyDelete