| Chaco
Culture National Historic Park |
July
13, 2002
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Albuquerque
Pages
Pages
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When
we took this long drive through the desert, the countryside seemed
very boring and frankly, to my mind, quite ugly. But then I began
to notice how the layers of the mountains were so visible and looked
like super sized parfaits - the horizontal layers of differing colors
echoing time's passage and nature's furies, then the top layer standing
vertically like huge temples or sentinels guarding what came before.
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I
particularly loved the red rock formations that reminded me so much
of Sedona.
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Chaco
Canyon was at the end of a very long and extremely bumpy drive.
This area was a major hub of the Pueblo Anasazi between A.D. 850
and 1250
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It
was amazing to me to see how the millions of handmade bricks were
laid out so straight and uniformly even after all this time.
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Here's
a view of some kivas (meaning "world below") - underground
ceremonial chambers or sanctuaries
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It
was a massive area but we didn't get to explore it all because a
strong windstorm came up and the sand in our teeth became too uncomfortable.
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The sun setting threw light on the formations making the drive back look completely different than on the way there. |
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Places
I've |
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National
Parks |
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Stroll
through the ruins of:
Jemez
Springs
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