4 Wheels 4 Girls

On April 16th, we visited Mesa Verde National Park. I was really excited to go there because I had read part of a great book about it, so I had high hopes. Even when I saw the visitor center I knew it would be a cool park. We checked out the displays in the visitor center, and then we explored another museum. Then we ate lunch and had to race to our ranger tour at 1:00. The guide talked about what we would see, and then he led us down some steep steps in the mesa leading to the big pueblo in an alcove called Cliff Palace. He taught us about the culture of the Basketmakers, the people that lived in the pueblo, and he told us great funny stories. In the middle of the tour we met another family doing a big trip like us. They were very nice, and we hope to run into them again!

The pueblo ruins at Cliff Palace

After the tour, we went back to the museum and met a very nice park ranger named Scott. Then we prepared to go on our last hike to another pueblo called Spruce Tree House. It was really neat, and we got to look in some of the rooms and go in a kiva, too (Ana and I even got lost in one!). It was really fun.

With Ranger Scott in the Chapin Mesa Museum

Finally we headed back up, happy with our fun day at Mesa Verde.

The hike into the dunes was exhausting, but really fun and a very unique experience. I’d never seen anything like it in Colorado before. I was so glad to explore even more of my favorite state ever! (Hawaii is my second favorite.) There was a really sweet display in the visitor center with a model of “safe lighting”, rock erosion, hematite-collecting station, and two real bullfrogs! The dunes were super awesome! 😀

The night of April 14th (my friend Julia’s birthday! Happy birthday Julia!), was our coldest night so far on this trip. We camped in South Fork, CO because it was the warmest place we could find along our route in Colorado. We turned on the heat and bundled up in our multiple blankets, sleeping bags, and layers of clothing, prepared for the below-freezing temperatures of the night. Surprisingly, I did just fine, and so did the rest of my family! Now we’ll know how to survive another super-chilly night if it comes!

On Wednesday, April 13th, after visiting John and his goats, we went to David’s restaurant called the Red Mountain Cafe. He showed us around, then made us delicious smoothies with apple juice, bananas, and blueberries, which we thoroughly enjoyed after walking around in the hot sun with the smell of goat poop still in our noses. After our smoothies we helped David with his garden at the cafe. I was prepared to smell even more like a goat. (We were using goat manure as fertilizer!)

Watering the Goat Manure in the Flower Bed

We put down a whole bunch of goat poop on top of the sunflower beds in the front, and then we started to plant some vegetables in the back garden. I planted green beans, snow peas, carrots, broccoli, and beets. It was fun but hard work.

Planting vegetables with David in his garden

Soon everyone was starving, especially me after working in the garden, so Jean went to the RV to get bread and hummus for sandwiches after washing up. At first I thought it was a boring lunch, but then David brought out his own homemade hummus and salmon spread, freshly-made bread, fresh veggies, and chips. It was delicious and a perfect lunch for me. Thanks again, David!

After lunch, we had to let David get on with his day, so we said our goodbyes.

We got in the RV and left the nice little New Mexico town of Ojo Caliente (meaning hot eye!) and headed for Colorado, my favorite state in the U.S. It stinks that ski/snowboard season is over! But Colorado still rocks! Go Burton shirts!!!

On to Colorado!

After seeing the Miracle Staircase in the cool church, we walked into the square, sort of like Decatur Square in Atlanta only different, more New Mexico-like. You have to have been to New Mexico to know what I mean. There were vendors everywhere selling pottery, jewelry, paintings, clothes, and other things unique only to Santa Fe. It was really cool and I saw some super cool beads that were shaped like little chili peppers in a shop near the square. We walked around for a bit, then stopped to look inside another church. It was really old and really cool, with a ceiling almost 40 feet high. We explored the church for awhile, then decided to head back to the RV, eat, and find a campground, which is what we did.

Stella, in front of the mighty Santa Fe River

We found a very nice, tree-filled campground with a “really good playground for playing horses” as Ellie said. We had delicious Indian food for dinner, and then I got stuck doing dishes while my sisters went to play. >:-( After the dishes I finally got to go enjoy the nice campground. We slept there for a night then moved on to Pecos National Historic Park. Read Ana’s post to find out more!

On April 10th, we went for a bike ride into Albuquerque to a bookstore as a reward for our hard work. The ride was very windy and what made it worse was that we were riding against the wind. When we got to the bookstore, it felt awesome to go inside away from the wind and read in the warm store. The store was called Under Charlie’s Covers, and I found lots of great books, although I only bought two. I’ve already finished one!

Here are some of the books we are reading right now.

The bike ride home was somewhat disastrous because of these evil, money-eating thorns called goatheads. Read Stella’s post to find out more!

When we were at Petroglyph National Monument, we went on a hike up a volcanic ridge to see petroglyphs which were on lava rocks along the ridge. It was a nice sunny day, but we had a problem which was the wind. While hiking up, I lost my sunglasses three times. As we were hiking up, we saw lots of petroglyphs and the trail twisted and turned all over the ridge and I had no idea where our camper was once it was out of sight.

Hiking the Boca Negro Canyon. That is Stella's head amongst the boulders.

On the way back down, there was a sandy trail and then the hike got a little less fun because the sand was blowing into our eyes. Stella saw a roadrunner, a bird common in New Mexico, that hops and runs instead of flies, even though it can fly.

The petroglyphs are carved into volcanic boulders.

After Petroglyph National Monument we went to Trader Joe’s, which is now my favorite grocery store. What I love about it is it is decorated like a beach and I am into tropical stuff. The food there is delicious and we got so many yummy meals, such as shrimp dumplings, four different kinds of pizza, indian meals and bread, and lots more. We also got some kumquats, which are one of my favorite fruits.

On the way back to the campground we had the pizzas, which were delicious. By the time we got back, we were tired from a long, eventful day.

After the Acoma pueblo, we ate tortilla soup and our pies for lunch, (yum!) we drove to Albuquerque to camp for awhile and to shop and explore. On the way to our campground, we saw the most spectacular house I had ever seen! It was made of old parts; plane, car, boat parts; and it looked like an automobile of the future. It was concealed by trees on most sides, so we couldn’t get a very good picture, but we took pictures anyway. Here are two pictures we took of it: (You would have loved it, Granddad!)

There's the long, winding staircase on the side of the house.

Ana really liked the house!

There was another similar, awesome one next to it with a big statue in front of it that looked like a huge human molecule. (with lots of soccer balls attached to it!) My favorite part about it was that there was a huge dinosaur in front of the first house, and my friend Alanna (Hey Alanna! Miss ya!) got me hooked on them. Dad took my picture in front of it:

The downfall of humanity wouldn't have happened if the dinosaurs still existed!

After the house, we headed to our awesome campground. Read Ellie’s post to find out more about it!!!

On April 6th, we went to an Acoma (a native American tribe) pueblo, or village. We got a ride up to the village on top of a mesa with our tour guide, Gary, and another man in our tour group. Gary was an Acoma native American who lives in the pueblo. He showed us an old church, a cemetery, and lots of houses and kivas, or places where the men pray and do ceremonial things, and he taught us a lot about his culture and his people. I loved learning about all the legends and stories; I talked about it with my family all day!

On the road there were lots of vendors selling jewelry, pottery, and even food! One very kind man gave us each a handmade bluebird, and we bought six pies and some delicious pumpkin cookies from a woman. (We each got our own pie! 😀 )

When the tour was over I was disappointed.

There was a very cool little path made to climb down the mesa, and we took it! It was awesome. Here is a picture of me climbing down:

This steep stairway down from the top of the mesa has been used for a thousand years by the villagers.

I loved the tour, and the pies were delicious! Mine was blueberry, and the other yummy flavors were cherry, peach, and apple. You should all see the pueblo!

Geez! So many strange, hard-to-pronounce names! El Malpais is a great monument where you can hike and see the remnants of an old volcano as well as the lava rock and little caves formed by the rock. The visitor center taught us a lot about the different volcanoes throughout the park and about the animals that live there.

We found this lizard, who has spines down its sides

After the visitor center and lunch, we went for a three mile hike into the volcano. On the way we saw lots of animal scat, which Ellie has been interested in learning about. 😀 We saw the poop of a coyote, a deer, a bunny, and maybe even a mountain lion. Also, we saw several caves formed by the lava rock crushing into the ground. It was really neat, and there was one called Bat Cave that Stella really wanted to explore (but no one is allowed).

This cave is actually part of a long lava tube

At the top of the volcano it was super cool ’cause you could look down into the volcano!

Behind my sisters is a lava trench, which is a collapsed lava tube

We hiked back down a mile and a half back to our RV, then left the park. It was a great day!

On Tuesday, April 5th, my family went to Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. There were hardly any real wood trees there- all the trees were petrified, meaning they had turned to stone! The logs looked just like they were still made of wood, with the same texture of the bark and everything! The logs had beautiful colors-black, brown, pink, orange, red, purple, yellow, and even grey. There was a little hike we did where we walked through hundreds of petrified wood logs. Here are Stella and Ellie doing their Junior Ranger packets by one of the logs:

Stella and Ellie working hard!

At the visitor center, there was a place where kids could dig up fossils in a big tray. I buried the fossils so my sisters could dig them up. Here is a picture of them digging:

Dig dig dig! 😀

After the visitor center, we went on a mile hike into the Blue Mesa, still part of Petrified Forest. It was a fabulous day to hike; warm and windy. We took lots of pictures, and here is one of me with the blue mesas behind me:

There I am with the mesas in the background. Beautiful, huh?

We saw even more petrified wood on our hike, and here we are in front of another log:

Doesn't the rock look just like wood!?

Petrified Forest National Park was amazing. I really loved it!!! 😀