apAdventures

In the summer months the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum keeps it’s doors open until 10pm. And the kids are finally at the age where we can all enjoy being out that late without complete and utter kiddie-meltdown. Woohoo!

We did this quite a few times this summer. The museum lights up its paths with just enough light to not stumble off into the desert, and puts little night-lights in select habitats so one can see the nocturnal creatures that are usually snoozing during the day. And they also have themes for every Saturday. One of the nights we went on Astronomy Night where they set up multiple telescopes throughout the park. Very cool.

posted by arr

Last weekend we did another mini-roadtrip. Destination: Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Adventurers: Auntie Ann, Auntie Jude, Paul, Silas, Ivan and me. Temperature: HOT. Overall experience: AWESOME.

We had been talking about doing a trip to Chaco since pre-Ivan, having spawned the idea on a trip to the Hopi Mesas with Jude and Ann 3 years ago. And now finally here we were, out in the middle of nowhere (and I mean NOWHERE!), gawking at the densest concentration of ancient pueblos in the American Southwest nestled in a breathtaking natural landscape. This was a first-time visit for Paul and I and we were completely blown away to say the least.

First off, the remoteness of Chaco had us hooked immediately. Chaco is not a place you see a sign for on the side of the road and decide to take a short detour from the highway to go check out in an afternoon. It’s not ‘on-the-way’ to anything. The canyon is accessible only by long and desolate washboard dirt roads…no matter which direction you choose to come from. And once you’re “there” the only establishments are a small campground and even smaller visitor center. It’s mind-blowing to imagine such a lonely, quiet, remote place once being a cultural hub of ancestral Puebloan peoples.

Then of course are the ruins. The engineering precision and complexity in which these structures were built is truly impressive, even to a 4 year old. The night sky was just as impressive. It was so perfectly clear and dense with stars there was almost no blackness between them and the Milky Way looked like a cloud. Add to that some incredible petroglyphs and really sweet-looking boulders and cliffs and this family’s socks were blown right off….if we had been wearing socks, that is….which we weren’t because it was scorching hot.

We had planned to stay four days and three nights. We ended up only staying three days though on account of the steadily increasing heat. It wasn’t so bad the first two days thanks to the lovely monsoon cloudy skies. But then the clouds disappeared and the mercury rose and we had to bail.

Heat or no heat, the trip was outstanding and Chaco Canyon is a wild place. And we’re clearly not the only ones who think so. Despite the high temps the campground was booked on Friday night! Going back is a absolute must for us.

Approaching Chaco Canyon from the south

Tired travelers

Setting up camp. Tip for future visitors: Site 40 has morning AND evening shade thanks to these boulders.

Good morning Chaco

Yes, that’s a petroglyph on the rock RIGHT THERE in our campsite!!!

Aunt Jude and Silas approaching Pueblo Bonito

Pueblo Bonito, the largest pueblo. This photo doesn’t do it justice. Unless you’re up on top of the mesa, you can’t really get a photo of the entire thing

And you can explore inside of it! I still haven’t decided for myself whether I think this is a good thing or not.

Silas, an expert identifier of grinding holes thanks to Hueco Tanks, points one out to us

A bit more of Pueblo Bonito from a higher vantage point

Our Junior Rangers in-training, headed to Una Vida pueblo and petroglyphs

Fajada Butte

Petroglyphs on the scooped rock overhead

I don’t believe I’ve ever in my entire life seen so many stars

Another breakfast in the shade at camp

Silas and Ivan with their hardcore adventure Aunties, Ann and Jude

Hiking to Kin Kletso

Kin Kletso

Ahhh, shade

Kin Kletso from part-way up the mesa. There is a really fun “trail” that takes you up a slot in the wall to get to the top of the mesa. It’s the same slot used by the ancients long ago – there’s rock art and grinding holes all the way up

On top of the mesa. Pueblo Bonito and Pueblo del Arroyo below

Thank you Aunt Jude and Ann for this awesome adventure!

posted by arr

This post is rather delayed, but still wanted to share. Here are a few photos of a trip to Meteor Crater with Paul’s Aunts, Jude and Ann earlier in August. Can you believe we’d never been?! Totally worth seeing if you’re ever thinking about going. Quite an impressive big hole.

The approach to the crater

View into the crater. We were disappointed to learn that you can’t go down into it…

…but Silas found a way.

The Aunties

The fam

The view north toward the Hopi Mesas in a nice desert downpour. We were up in Hopi country the day prior.

posted by arr

“Where have you been the last couple weeks,” has been the common question we’ve been asked recently when bumping into friends at work or while climbing. Our answer is that we spent a nice amount of time with my family in Pittsburgh celebrating Thanksgiving. It would be too much text if I started describing all of the delicious meals (including Thanksgiving dinner) we had so I’ll just mention a dinner conversation that we had which led us into mischief. When we were talking about a place to take a hike one of the days I mentioned going to Laurel Hill State Park near Seven Springs Ski Resort. My Dad said, “Oh yeah, that’s a nice place to hike. I remember when we used to camp there and shoot off those model rockets you’d build.” I said,”Ohhhh yeah I miss shooting those things off.” On the way home from our hike the next day we stopped off and bought a little model rocket. A couple days later we were standing outside in the bitter cold hurrying to get the ignitor wires connected to a 9V battery. My Dad counted down, “5-4-3, no, no, we used to go from 10. Ok…10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 GO!” I put the wires to the battery and whooshhhh. The rocket soared off over my parents city neighborhood. It was awesome.

The rocket soared way up, almost out of sight and then the parachute popped out. The rocket fell back to Earth nice and slow until it touched down right next to some guy’s truck. Whoops. Close call. That guy was actually working construction and watched the whole launch and probably wondered if what we did was legal. Actually, was what we did really legal? ha ha. This was just one of the many fun moments and memories that we got to share with my parents over a great Thanksgiving vacation.

I better not write much because I need to get to bed. I just worked late, ran, climbed, sat in the hot tub and then tried to start a new hobby…astrophotography. Here is what I managed to capture with a 15sec exposure and NO tripod. One photo is of Orion and one is of the Big Dipper. The Shot of Orion is to the West (facing the city of Tucson) where our skies are washed out from light. The shot of the Dipper is to the East (facing the mts.) in the dark sky.