After a good night's sleep in Farmington, Aztec ruins was our first stop. It is an old Indian ruin that was discovered under brush in the early 1900's and has been excavated. We enjoyed tromping through the rooms and kid-sized doorways. This was probably my favorite stop of the whole trip. There was plenty of room for the kids to run and explore and we were able to take it all in without other people around. At the entrance to the museum/visitor's center, they also had a couple rocks out so kids could grind corn. They loved doing this and were entertained here for about 30 minutes! It also worked well later than night when their dinner had tortillas now that they knew how they were made.
The next day, we hit the road again, this time for two stops in Navajo Nation - Four Corners Monument (a been there, done that attraction), and Shiprock, a huge lava rock that comes out from nowhere.
We arrived in Gallup in some rain late afternoon, went for a swim in another hotel pool, and went to dinner and had quite possibly the best pizza of our lives at a small pizza place called Fratelli's. If you're ever in Gallup (yeah, right!), this restaurant must be at the top of your list!
One night in Gallup, and then the scenic route to Albuquerque. We travelled part of the way on historic Route 66 and saw some neat old hotels and stores, and then detoured south to stop at El Morro, another huge rock. It was really beautiful, but a little rainy and the kids were tired and hungry. If it were just the two of us, we'd have hiked the trail to the top, but with the kids we enjoyed the view from the bottom. The kids did enjoy hearing and seeing some ravens nesting in the rock and had quite a chit-chat with the park ranger about them when we returned to the visitor center.
We headed into Albuquerque for what we thought at the time was our last hotel and a couple of very kid friendly days. Last episode to follow....
Comments