A better adventure to New Mexico for the Smiths

Ahh....Finally....the indian ruins!
We visited the Aztec Ruins National Monument in New Mexico just outside of Farmington. It took about an hour to see if all. Cool place to visit!

We finally made to the Mesa Verde National Park...I never had the opportunity to hike up to an actual ancient Indian dwelling, until now... It was absolutely amazing! It was soo worth seeing!!!

Mesa Verde National Park

A better vacation for the Smiths...

Here are a few pictures of us on our vacation....

Joseph & Alycia a few miles outside of the Petrified Forest in Arizona...I think people can actually camp here.. Yikes!

Myself with the dino...we had to make our picture taking super quick...there were fire ants everywhere..Ouch!

Brent,Alycia, & Joseph in the Petrified Forest...that's an actual Petrified tree stump behind them

Brent,Alycia,the caterpillar, Joseph, and Anna

My kiddos...gotta Love that catapillar

Brent with the painted desert in the background

We visited the Petrified forest and the Painted desert on our way to New Mexico and it was amazing to see all the coolness of living in the desert. It was overcast and a bit chilly (well...what I think is chilly) in July.

I do have to confess to my ignorance though...When we stopped off at a gift shop outside of the Petrified forest park, I couldn't understand why Brent wanted to purchase pieces of petrified wood...I kept thinking...duh? they have plenty of them at the park we could pick up...right? Uh...NO!!!! My family members were horrified when I mentioned that to them..It's a criminal act to take anything from a National Park...duh? I should have known that...good thing I NEVER took anything...

The painted desert was really neat to see also...It seemed almost alien to visit it...If you ever make to Arizona...I highly recommend checking these places out....