The Ruins at Chaco Canyon

On October 25th, we took a drive up to Chaco Canyon to visit the Indian Ruins. We had the cooler loaded with snacks but still needed a few bottles of water for the hike, so we stopped in the visitor's center. 3 bottles of water and an entrance fee later, we headed to our destination. We had originally planned to hike further but due to the time of our arrival, we opted to shorten our sights. We took the same path, just not as far! We had some "rocky terrain" to cover as you can see in the photographs, but it was worth it once we had gotten to the top! The view was gorgeous! We stopped above the largest ruin that is located in Chaco Canyon and "recharged our batteries" meaning we ate our snacks and sipped on water! After grabbing a few photos we headed back down the mountain. Daniel was impressed with Cooder's "footing" considering his age. We all did well. We decided to hang around for a bit longer because of a guest speaker who was going to talk about the Rock Art in Chaco Canyon and then star gazing was scheduled to follow. We could have done without the guest speaker! Sadly it was the worst we had ever seen. She had been observing this rock art for 30 years now and had no idea what any of it meant. Once we escaped, we headed outside and were able to gaze through 6 or 7 different telescopes including a very large one that is similar to those found at the McDonald Observatory. Cooder was thrilled when he caught sight of Jupiter and it's moons, something he had previously spoken of on several occasions.
We jumped back in the car and headed for home stopping to grab a quick bite to eat. It was late when we got in but we were happy! We excerised our bodies on the hike and our minds with the knowledge we gained. It doesn't get much better!