We packed so much into yesterday that I was too tired to post last night. Yesterday we experienced all things Louisville in one day!

We started yesterday at Churchill Downs home of the Kentucky Derby. We aren’t “horse” people so other than seeing a little history, I wasn’t terribly excited about this, but you can’t go to Louisville and not go to the Derby.

Our first questions was why is it named Churchill Downs? Don’t worry, there’s a plaque!!!

Churchill Downs is beautiful, and the museum and tour was really fun. 2021 will be the 147th running of the Derby. They haven’t missed one year, not even 2020 (although they didn’t have spectators last year).

We started with a 360° movie that gave a little bit of history of the Derby. It was great for the boys who couldn’t understand why a horse race was such a big deal. The museum had tons of interactive exhibits that kept all of us engaged and interested.

I think we have outgrown any hope of being jockeys

But we still enjoyed pretending … although when your big ol shoes get stuck in the stirrups, that’s a good sign that this may not be your calling in life 🤪

The tour around the track was really fun. We even ran into the official bugler for the Derby, Steve Buttleman, who plays the “Call to the Post” for every race at Churchill Downs since 1994. He treated us to a playing of the “Call to the Post” 🎶

We went to the track and watched a few horses running their morning laps, and learned a few facts: the Derby track is 25 feet deep; it is “watered” every day to keep the dirt in perfect condition; too dry or too wet, and it makes the horses run slow or risk injury.

We watched Secretariat a few years ago, and we were all amazed to learn that when they did the necropsy (animal autopsy) Secretariat’s heart was over 22 pounds – the normal horse heart is between 3-6 pounds! No wonder he was still accelerating when he crossed the finish line in the fastest time EVER for the Derby!

It was really interesting and I expect the Brown’s May dapple in a bit of betting for the upcoming Derby 🏇🏇🏇

We left Churchill Downs and decided to have a Kentucky favorite… and another stop from the “Food that Build America” show.

Think slider-sized McDonalds cheeseburgers. The fries and chicken rings were pretty good too, but we especially liked that they sold family-sized meals.

We headed back into Louisville for another “have-to” stop – the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. Again, we really aren’t baseball people so we weren’t that excited about this tour either. And again, we had a great time! When we arrived we had a few minutes before our tour of the factory, so we wandered through the museum. We thought the museum was great, but if you were really a baseball fan, this would have been awesome! We got to hold the real bat of famous players: Leo chose Christian Yelich of the Brewers; Michael choose Kris Bryant of the Cubs; Mike chose chose Ricky Henderson of the A’s; and I chose Ozzie Smith of St Louis Cardinals.While we were using the bats, the lady working there asked us if we were from North Carolina (Mike had on his UNC mask) we said yes, and turns out she was from Snow Hill, NC which is near where Mike grew up. Her name was Renee and she had served in the military and moved to Louisville after her service. She was so nice and took care of us at the museum, introducing us to everyone she worked with at the museum. It was find a little bit of NC in Kentucky. We exchanged numbers and she made us promise to call her when we got to our hotel Monday night so she would know we had safe travels! ♥️We continued through the museum and I loved the display for the ladies league during WWII… It wasn’t a Rockford Peach uniform but still pretty cool. The factory tour was too cool. Each Louisville Slugger bat used to be hand made with tools and a lathe. It took 30-40 minutes per bat.

Now with machines, a piece of wood can go from this round piece of wood to a bat in 40 seconds!

From here, they move through different sanding and staining machines until you end up with a finished bat.

We left the factory and headed to the batting cage. And guess who was working there – Mrs. Renee from Snow Hill! We picked our favorite bats (I picked Stan “the Man” Musiel’s bat.) And away we went…

We finished with Louisville Slugger and decided we needed a little something sweet 🍦 Thankfully, Michael noticed a sandwich board on the corner up ahead for an sweets shop “Ah, Whatta ‘Bout Mimi’s”. Mimi and her husband were the nicest couple, and had the best ice cream 🍦🍨🍦

We strolled around Louisville for a while and found:

Some cauldrons where they cook teenagers who don’t listen to their parents (or at least that’s what we said 🤣)

A bedazzled limoand we realized that Kentucky may have gone a bit overboard with their mask protocols 🤣😷🤣😷🤣

Then we hit the road for state number 21: Indiana

Since our day was open, we opted for no interstates and stuck to some 2-lane roads. It was a beautiful drive to Madison, Indiana. We stopped for some hiking and waterfalls at Clifty Falls State Park

It was a huge state park with a Lodge, pool, playgrounds and lots of beautiful trails.

It was a warm day so boys took off socks and shoes and did a little rock balancing and some rock skipping (4 skips is the record).

We checked into the hotel and headed out for dinner. The hotel recommended a new Mexican Restaurant, Mi Viejo, and it was delicious!

Madison is a beautiful town right on the Ohio River. The downtown looks like something out of a Hallmark movie.We capped off our night with some swimming/wrestling for any remaining energy (from Michael and Leo not us 🥱)

And then it was back to the room to watch Baylor stomp Gonzaga for the NCAA championship! 🏀.

Today we loop back around to Kentucky for the Creation Museum 🌍

Our beautiful Easter morning started at Mammoth Cave National Park.

We’ve done some cave tours and caving before… some walking, some crawling, but they were always fun… and a little creepy when you think about exactly where you are 😬

Due to Covid, we could only do the Extended Historic Tour, but it was plenty for us. (Honestly, I think we all have a little PTSD after that cave tour in Tennessee where we crawled under rocks on our bellies😬). Two miles long and you could walk at your own pace, so it was perfect.

One of the most interesting parts were the TB houses. They were actual houses built miles underground. As tuberculosis swept the country, a doctor became convinced that Cave air would cure it. So families volunteered to move into the caves for 2 years for this “cure.” Not surprisingly, folks continued to die from TB, and the isolation and sensory deprivation from the dark caused most families to quit the program after 2 months.

We did see a little bit of Easter as we descended into the caves.

Since you are leisurely walking, you don’t realize how far down it is until you see it from afar.

After spending almost 2 hours underground, we decided spend some time outdoors and hike a few of the trails in the park.

And of course, climb a few rocks.

Our plans had been to travel to Hodgenville, Kentucky and eat in a little downtown diner, Laha Red’s, that was recommended by some friends… but like most small towns, the downtown area is shut down on Sundays… especially Easter Sunday. So, thankfully Mom’s traveling restaurant was open again, so Cajun Turkey Subs it is!

In Hodgenville, we visited the Lincoln Memorial built at Lincoln’s childhood home. His father bought the Sinking Spring Farm for $200 in 1808.

President Lincoln lived on this land until he was 2, and then they moved to an another farm about 10 minutes away. Inside the Memorial is what was originally thought to be the actual cabin that Lincoln was raised in (although carbon dating of the logs proved this wrong some time later).

After Hodgenville, we meandered to Louisville, taking highways instead of Interstates. We were disappointed to realize that we didn’t have a pool at the hotel to get rid of excessive energy but we wandered to NuLo (a revitalized area of downtown Louisville), and had a “hot chicken” dinner at Royal’s Hot Chicken.

Clearly it was delicious!

The outdoor area was constructed of old cargo containers which we all thought was pretty cool.

We wandered back to the hotel and after showers played a few rounds of Avocado Smash! (Like slapjack with a few extra rules and you get to shout Guacamole! every now and then 🤣).

We are snuggled in and ready for a big day at Church Hill Downs🏇 and the Louisville Slugger Museum tomorrow ⚾️

As we left Cumberland Falls State Park,

We stopped by the gift shop for our travel tree ornament, and boys found some Bean Boozled Jelly Beans. So if you’re not familiar with these, you and your opponents pick the same jelly bean to eat – for instance, you both eat a white jelly bean. In Bean Boozled, one of you would get vanilla flavor and the other would get spoiled milk 🤢. This is a game only boys would think is fun 🤣.

We made it through 2 beans before 😝

Shiracha bean for the win 🤣😂🤣

Next stop, Mill Spring Battlefield in Nancy, Kentucky. The museum is surrounded by cows and the boys kept trying to pet them… but the “quietly approach” them part of the process seemed difficult for these two 🤣

And yes! They had plaques

This was an early civil war battle called the Battle at the Fence because at times during the battle, the Union and Confederate Soldiers were sticking their guns through the same fence. It was an important Union victory to break the defensive line across southern Kentucky. The museum was interesting and thankfully they had a good sense of humor and were kid-friendly 😊

After the museum and video, we took part of the driving tour through surrounding fields. During this battle, there was so much fog and smoke from the musket firing that the soldiers got confused about who was firing at whom. Confederate General Zollicoffer rode out to check and crossed into Union troops. They did not immediately recognize him as a confederate because of his big winter coat… that is until one of his officers came running and yelling his mistake! Zollicoffer turned to fire just as the Union troops fired on him. Zollicoffer fell and died laying next to a huge tree, that became known as the “Zolli tree”. It stood until a Thunderstorm in 1995, and a seedling of the original tree was planted in the same spot in Zolli’s Field.

There are Union troops buried here in a sight similar to other battlefields

There is also a mass grave for confederate soldiers. The museum attendant told us a local legend that the confederate soldiers were once buried in individual shallow graves but because of a wet Spring that year, the bodies began to come back to the surface. Local farmers collected the bodies and interred them in a mass grave. One of the farmer’s 9 year old son was made to assist and legend says he went insane afterwards.

It was one of the nicest battlefield museums we’ve seen, and the driving tour was really well done. These three thoroughly enjoyed it.

Now, back on the “Holiday roooaaaaadddd”🎶. Mom’s restaurant was open for business again, so we ate and traveled…

On to Bowling Green, home of the Corvette Museum. We aren’t really “car” people. Got 4 wheels, an engine and gets us from A to B? ✔️ good enough for us. But the museum was still pretty cool. We all found our favorites- Mike and I like the older models but the boys want the newest and flashiest… hope this isn’t an indication of their future girlfriends and wives 🤦🏻‍♀️

But the best part was the Corvette simulator! Everyone took a turn driving, and everyone crashed… I’m hoping a real Corvette doesn’t drive like that

As we left, we saw an classic car dealership so we stopped by Art’s Auto Mart for a visit. It was really cool! And huge warehouse of classic Empalas, Corvettes, Mustangs, BelAirs, Chevelles, Trans Ams.

The boys just couldn’t understand why you want an old car when you could have a new car! 🤣

We went to hotel to check in and boys spend an hour or so swimming (read wrestling in the water) to get some energy out. Then we headed to dinner at Double Dogs at the suggestion of the front desk attendant.

Wow! She was right on the money! The food was delicious- HUGE hot dogs and burgers, and the best Mac and cheese I’ve ever had. Plus we loved that it is a Kentucky chain named after their two dogs ♥️🐶

We decided to head to another local place we had heard of for great ice cream – Chaney’s Dairy Barn. Think of a really big Homeland Creamery.

Oh my word, the ice cream was fantastic!

It was really lovely and the playground was fun

Bellies VERY full, we headed back to watch the UCLA/Gonzaga game. (Go Bulldogs!)

Tomorrow we are heading underground in the Mammoth Caves before heading to Hodgenville and Louisville.

What a great start to our Kentucky Spring Break! This trip was initially planned for 2020, but well, yeah Covid 🤦🏻‍♀️… so we postponed for a year and here we are. We’ve got a whole bag full of clean masks and we’re ready to get back on that Holiday Rooooaaaaadddd 🎶

We pulled out dangerously close to our target time, and off we went… all the way across North Carolina, had some car sandwiches from Mom’s Restaurant for lunch…

clipped the northwestern corner of Tennessee and into Corbin, Kentucky!

We love the History Channel show “The Food that Built America, so no visit to Corbin, Kentucky would be complete without a visit to the Sanders’ Cafe – which is the very first Kentucky Fried Chicken!

“Yeah, another plaque.” (Insert sarcasm here)

They are still remodeling the interior museum and restaurant so we just enjoyed seeing the exterior. It was still really cool to see, despite almost getting crushed by 3 cars in the parking lot. Kentuckians are serious about these chicken!

We left the metropolis of Corbin and headed to Cumberland Falls State Park. We decided to stay in the park to cut down on the drive back and forth into Corbin. The DuPont Lodge is a beautiful lodge… it reminds me of a small version of Ketterman’s from Dirty Dancing.

From the Lodge, there are several trails one of which leads to Cumberland Falls, the Niagara Falls of the South. 65 feet high and over 100 feet wide, and with all the rain we’ve had, the river was really high which made the falls very full.

The Falls are the only place in the Western Hemisphere where you can see a Moonbow – a rainbow of white created during a full moon. And look! Another plaque!

And there were lots of rocks for climbing…

Even Mike got in on the climbing, which the boys loved!

The hike was beautiful and after 6 hours of driving we all enjoyed walking a few miles… although I would not say the stone stairs were up to code 🤣

The boys couldn’t understand why they had the lower observation areas blocked off (um because parts of them were underwater?) but they had still had a blast

Dinner at the Riverview Restaurant inside the Lodge was delicious! We were all “way too full” for individual desserts so we said we would just share one Derby Pie. Derby Pie is a Kentucky specialty of chocolate pie with walnut crust served with vanilla ice cream. And it is fantastic! Which led to a battle of the spoons 🤣🤣🤣

After dinner, we explored the Lodge. The lodge and trails were built in part by the Civilian Conservation Corp (part of the New Deal that put folks back to work during the Great Depression). Thanks to Coach Sizemore’s History lessons, the boys knew all about this and enjoyed sharing with us.

We are now snuggled in and relaxing for the night. It’s 23 degrees outside so we are thankful we are in the Lodge and not a campsite 🥶

Tomorrow we are off to visit a battlefield and the Corvette Museum! Perfect boy-day!

It’s been 2 years since we had a trip to mark off a new state (stupid Covid!) but we are packed and ready to roll out for the Bluegrass State of Kentucky (with a stopover in Indiana and possibly Ohio).

We are headed home today. So time to pack up our $16 cooler that has saved up untold $$$ in lunch, snacks, and drinks, and now is loaded with dirty laundry.We did pretty well with our groceries- we ended up not using 5 pieces of ham, 3 slices of cheese, some mayo, mustard, teriyaki sauce, ranch dressing, an apple, 7 bottled waters, 4 rolls of paper towels and some laundry detergent (which we donated to the hotel laundromat 😊It’s sad to think vacation is over, but it’s also time to go back to school 😳😳😳Arrived at the Durango Airport in plenty of time. It’s smaller than the Greensboro airport so easy to navigate.Even got to walk out to our plane … Chicago here we come…Chicago was a quick 30 minute lay over this time and thankfully the gates were only working minutes apart. Grabbed some donuts and as the iPads recharge, we read for school 😉

Now the real question arrives… did the little red cooler survive???

YES!!!We made it! Home and safe with more memories we will never forgot!now to tackle the laundry…🤨

Well, it’s the last full day of vacation and we finished strong with one last National Park. That National Park Pass has paid for itself about 3x over! After breakfast at the hotel, we packed a picnic with the last of our groceries. We have really done well with with our cooler and groceries. We ended up with about 6 pieces of ham and 3 pieces of cheddar cheese left.🤗.

Cooler packed, we headed out for Mesa Verde National Park. BUT before we left Durango, we had to go by the Barefoot Shop for Michael’s souvenir. He decided on the way here that he was getting his souvenir hat in Durango, Colorado. The river rafters were sold out of hats yesterday, but he found the one he wanted last night in a store window. The store was closed then, so here we are now. After getting his new hat, we were off to Mesa Verde.

Mesa Verde National Park is a World Heritage site – which I had never heard of until today, but it’s apparently a big deal. Thanks to google, we now know that a World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the United Nations as having a special culture or physical significance. There are 24 World Heritage Sites in the United States, and Mesa Verde was the first in the US.

You can tour Mesa Verde on your own, but there are several locations that you can only access with a park ranger. The tours are only $5 per person, but the key is you have to sign up ahead of time. Thankfully one our rafting guides told us this bit of info yesterday so we were booked for the 1pm tour. We stopped at the Visitor’s center for the bathroom and to pick out our travel tree ornament… when we caught a glimpse of a familiar face… oh my word! The Texas Terrors were at Mesa Verde😳🥴😳🥴 Without us even having to say anything, the boys pulled their hats down, averted their eyes and we all quickly scooted in another direction! I just prayed they weren’t on our tour later 😬

The drive into the park was beautiful! It was so different than all the sand and desert we saw earlier in our vacation.The turns and switchbacks driving through Mesa Verde were crazy!! We finally decided that maybe Otis from Andy Griffin drew the road map they used for constructing the roads! The orange line is the road 😳We made it to Cliff Palace for our tour with plenty of time, so we located the picnic area and enjoyed our lunch. We have thoroughly enjoyed our picnics across the Southwest. 😊❤️

We met our Park Ranger and tour group – Hallelujah! The Texas Terrors were NOT in our group! Whew! Ranger Ruth was great, and she LOVED her job! So we begin our hike to see the cliff palace. From what they told us back at the Aztec Ruins, and our friend the Rayfield’s, the cliff dwellings were supposed to be amazing. So, the hike began with a descent down some stairs that were varying shapes and sizes. (I got tickled thinking of a picture I have of Daddy measuring the steps at the Mayan Ruins in Cancun with his tape measure “Peggy, these steps aren’t built to code.” 🤣🤣🤣) so I had to get a picture

As we came around the corner, we see what all the fuss is about…There is an entire city built into the cliff! According to Ranger Ruth, approximately 800 years ago, and for unknown reasons, the Pueblo Indians moved their civilization from the top of the plateau down with the cliffs. There are hundreds of rooms, with enough space to provide for thousands of people. There are Kivas that appear to be ceremonial, and others that were a living room or common room for the families. They even found a drawing inside one of the towers.It was an amazing thing to see! We also met a really cool lady from Texas. She was 69 years old, had a couple of new knees thanks to her knee replacements, and was traveling around hiking wherever she wanted. We told her we’d look her up if we came to Texas 🤗 She even got a great family picture for us.Mike was especially fond of the French family behind us for the first part of the tour whose children talked non-stop and then the dad who asked 7,000 questions of Ranger Ruth 🤣🤪🤣 Finally he ran out of questions 🤪But we got some great pictures from today – each of the boys taking turns being the photographer 😉🤪❤️

The only thing about climbing down for a tour is that eventually you have to go back up… so here we go…So glad we added this last minute tour in, because it was definitely something to see. Pictures can’t really do it justice.

The drive back through the park was just as lovely, and since we weren’t in a rush we stopped at a couple of overlooks… at one stop, we were about to stop when who comes out of the bathrooms… The Texas Terrors We diverted our eyes and drove away. 🤣😂

The Tower was our favorite overlook because of this gentleman. He didn’t bother to park so others could get by… and then didn’t seem in a hurry to move when he saw us… even making an additional lap around the tower to re-read the plaque! We just got so tickled that we were dying laughing by the time he bothered to get in his car and leave 🤣😂🤣

As we made it back to Durango,we found a FedEx store and started filling our now empty cooler with dirty laundry The plan was to ship the cooler home and save the $30 per bag that the airline charges…well that was the plan until we learned that a 30 pound cooler costs $105 to ship to NC 😳 Um, no thanks. So we’ll be taking our laundry-cooler to the airport tomorrow to go home with us 🥴🤪

(Y’all pray the baggage carrousel in Greensboro isn’t covered in our laundry tomorrow 🤦🏻‍♀️)

We had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, got packed up… and had one last swim

Now we’re ready for bed and our airport adventures tomorrow.

Can’t believe this is the last night. Since there weren’t any amusement parks or things like that on this trip, we really just had a great time being together. Michael and Leo are growing up so fast, and have so many distractions in our day to day world. It has been so much fun to just be together, the four of us, laughing and spending as much time together as we can before they are grown. It has truly been the best vacation ever. ❤️🤗

What an awesome day!

We slept in and had a late breakfast trying to plan ahead for rafting at 1:30… we did such a good job with our planning ahead that we ended up with over an hour of time to spare before we needed to leave for the rafting spot. So we went to practice our bellyflops and burn off a little excitement.We made it to Mountain Water Rafting on time and ready to raft! I was afraid to take my camera, so we only have some before and after shots from me, but plenty of great shots by their photographer.Michael was stressed out that others in our group were not on time and ready to go right at 1:30! (He definitely doesn’t get that trait from me 🤪) . We loaded up on a bus with others on our trip and headed to the drop-in site. One of guides, Cheddar, gave a safety speech that was part funny and part “we have to warn you of things that won’t ever really happen but just in case”. Mike Brown was intensely listening to this speech, and I was praying that Cheddar would shut up! 🤪.

AJ was our guide – very nice guy who just graduated from college with a degree in Adventure Education. Adventure Eduction – How cool is that? And apparently it’s a real thing because in Colorado, the schools have a lot of classes like this as an elective. How did I not know this was an option in school?!?! 🤷🏻‍♀️. He was so kind to the boys asking about school and what they liked… but when he told Leo he didn’t think he had seen any Marvel movies, I thought Leo would fall over 🤣

The only hiccup was that we rafted with a family of 5 from Texas… who I am labeling the Texas Terrors. The best way to describe them would be if the Kardashians and the children from Madea’s Witness Protection had children. These would be those kids… know-it-all, disrespectful to their parents, over-privileged tween and teenagers. Michael and Leo said well at least we know how not to act when we get older 🤗 (parenting score!). It was so bad, that the guide asked if we would sit in the back for the second half of the ride so he could have a break from them 🥴

The boys were awesome ! They did great paddling and listening to instructions. Michael started in front with Mike, and Leo sat in the middle between me and the Texas mom. Then Leo and I switched and he did the padding while I relaxed. As we got the big rapid, AJ switched Michael and I in order to put to 2 adults up front. I don’t think he cared ❤️🤗We did a 4-hour ride, and stopped half way through for snacks and water. Then it was back in the raft. This time we moved to the back of the boat and each of us paddled (and AJ got a break from the Texas Terrors).

Right before the end of the float, we got to climb up an 8-foot rock and cannonball into the Animas River. Even though it was pretty warm today, when you hit that water 🥶Dang! That water was cold!!! 🥶 It took your breath for a second. A few people jumped in more than once… any guesses which ones? 🤔

We had so much fun today! Even with the Texas Terrors, they just gave us something else to giggle about 🤗 And now to the clothes… everything had a brown gritty film to it. I was going to wash at the hotel but before I put it into the washer, we decided to soak it in the tub with some detergent. Here is it right when we put it in…

Ten minutes later…Two hours later when we got back from dinner… Yuck!

While the clothes soaked, we headed out for dinner at a place AJ and another guide recommended – SteamworksThe food was delicious and great laid back Colorado atmosphere. Think they are full and tired 😊

We decided to explore the downtown a bit in search of a hat for Michael and a T-shirt for me, and stickers for our water bottles. And we found ice cream in the process … there’s always room for ice cream 😉I thought the sign on the office door was hilarious We found Michael’s perfect hat but they were closed so we’ll come back tomorrow.

Tomorrow is our last day. We are headed to Mesa Verde National Park for a picnic and tour tomorrow and then to celebrate our last night of vacation…Can’t believe it’s already been 2 weeks. Time flies when you’re having fun 😀❤️

We woke up today with nothing on the agenda, and only needing to end the day in Durango, Colorado. So we decided to just see where the day took us. Michael was so out of his comfort zone with this agenda!

After breakfast, we decided to “Ross Geller” the room and stay until the last moment of check out. The boys watched a movie on their iPads, Mike watched a movie in the bedroom and I caught up on emails. We didn’t know what to do with ourselves with no place to be.

We finally left the hotel at 11am, and headed to the Farmington Museum and Convention Center. This was a really cool little (free) museum that featured rotating exhibits. This summer that had 3 displays: woodworking, gas and oil, and dinosaurs. You would think the first 2 exhibits were boring but they were actually pretty interesting.

The woodworking was done by a local artist and had some beautiful pieces. Of course, my amateur wood worker was thinking of ideas he could make from wood the saw mill. I hope he does because these things are gorgeous!They had several kid-friendly sections:

In the first, you tried to build a table from the directionsI figured out how to put the box together but it took a little workIn the second – you used small squares of wood stained different colors. Leo loved the “design with wood section” And then they both decided to be creative

We headed to the oil and gas display. Since Mike grew up working at his parents’ station, he loved this, and the Boys loved him telling stories of when he was little

Then it was on to the dinosaurs! 🦖🦖🦖

This was a pretty amazing display for a small town, especially considering they had a full size Tyrannosaurus Rex named Stan (after the amateur paleontologist who found him). And we learned our individual dinosaur names:

Mike – Velociodactyl, which means speedy finger;

Michael – Velociodromeus which means speedy runner;

Leo – Iguanovenator which means iguana hunter; and

Heidi – Pentadon which means five tooth and made the coolest shadows EVER!🤣

The lady at the museum gift shop suggested we check out the Aztec Ruins and lunch at the A&W. Since our day was free, off we went…

The Aztec Ruins aren’t actually Aztec at all. They are the remains of a Pueblo Indian Civilization from the 11th to 13th centuries. They are amazing in not only the construction but that they are still standing and haven’t even been fully excavated.In the center of the ruins, is the Great Kiva. This building is amazing! It was used as the ceremonial center of the tribe. There were several other kivas located around the ruins, all slightly small than the Great Kiva. The Great Kiva is believed to have burned down, but based on excavation findings, it was rebuilt in 1934. We were all impressed by the audio recording that you could play

It looked like something from Raiders of the Lost Ark or The Mummy.

The Pueblo people must have been very short because the doorways were tiny. We all cracked our head or back on the door jams sometime during the day.

It was surreal being here. Just knowing that someone built this house 700-900 years ago, and they are still standing. They really don’t build them like they used to 😉The technology included in the construction was incredible. This is the North Wall, and during summer solstice, the sun follows this exact path! And the roofs were built to hold the weight because these dwellings had 2 to 3 stories. They also used these holes as old-fashioned AC or ventilation. The air coming through felt so cool. One way scientists have identified Pueblo structures and building is the presence of this dark green rock/brick. No one has figured out its meaning but it is present in every Pueblo building.can’t believe we were lucky enough to stumble on this!

The boys tried their hand at making corn meal… And we met a local sand artist. Heads full of culture, it was time to feed our bellies. An old fashioned A&W restaurant sound perfect!just pick what you want and call your order inIt doesn’t get much better than thisUntil the food arrives, bacon cheeseburger chili cheese fries and coney dogs 🤗They were so full, they decided to skip a milkshake dessert 😳 We headed into downtown Aztec. Very cute bridge to enter, and we loved the quilt shop name (although now its a boarding house) We have also learned that the stoplights in New Mexico are horizontal, instead of vertical? It was really strange to see but after a little research, we discovered it was to cut down on wind resistance. That will be a good bit of trivia one day!

We headed north, and arrived in the last state of our Vacation – Colorado This is bittersweet because we’re all ready to get home to our own beds and pillows, but hate to see vacation starting to wind down…

But we’ve still got 3 days!

We checked into our final Holiday Inn Express in Durango, Colorado. It is a beautiful town! Plenty of big stores (Target, Wal-Mart) but a great downtown with little shops to explore. We picked up a “Welcome to Durango ” magazine in the lobby and decided to go see the La Plata County 4-H Fair.and guess what they have? Livestock🐑🐄🐂… and even better – Pigs! 🐖🐖We watched several sheep events, and loved seeing the County Fair Queen and Princess present the Blue Ribbons. Notice that they wear their crowns on top of their cowboy hats.Then we had to go check out the Swine Showcase. This pigs weren’t anywhere near the size of Gilberta and Madea, but they were pure muscle! Mike found some folks to talk pig with, and we found a pig named Leo ❤️🐖

But wait! It gets better – there’s the final True West Rodeo of the Summer starting at 6:30! Seriously, we find the most random things on our vacations!

So yee-haw! We’re headed to the rodeo. Mike had been to a rodeo when he was younger but this was a first for the boys and I, and it was so much fun!Apparently, kids start young in rodeo and begin by riding a bucking mutton … these kids were between 3 and 7 years old!Then came the young bucking broncos and young bull riders. There was a scary moment with the bull riding when an 11 year old was thrown off and the bull stepped on his back! Thankfully, he was okay but it was scary for a little bit.

Then they had a “calf catching” event for anyone 10 and younger. Well, we’ve got a 10 year old… so off he went!

He didn’t win, but how cool to say I competed in a rodeo contest this summer!

YeeHaw! Time for the bull riding contest!It was just too much fun to get to be a part of this tonight. Who else but the Browns would start the day with nothing to do and end the day at a rodeo in Colorado 🤷🏻‍♀️🤪

Michael asked me if I planned this? No sweetheart, not even I could plan all this 🤣😊We finished the night off with some time in the hot tub, and now happily snoozing away… dreaming of bull riding and bucking broncos, I’m sure ❤️

Tomorrow, we head down the river for some white water rafting. Can’t wait to see where tomorrow takes us. 😊❤️

What a day! From a beautiful sunrise to Navajo park to a delicious dinner, we did it all today!

Michael and I started the day early watching the sunrise from our little porchWe weren’t quite awake when we started 😴 but the view made it all worthwhile ❤️☀️

We fixed a quick breakfast, packed the car and headed back to Arizona to meet our guide for the day. (Sounds a lot further than it is since the Arizona line was 5 miles away 🤪)

We met our guide Duffy and loaded up for a tour of Monument Valley. Duffy is a Navajo Indian and clearly enjoys his job as a guide. He grew up in this area, and knows Monument Valley! He took us to so many sitesLeft Mitten

Right Mitten

1 – Praying Hands

2 – King in his Thrown

3 – King’s Castle

We loved hearing about each butte and the stories of Monument Valley. The names were hilarious and named by visitors from years agoCan you see the Elephant and Snoopy?

The next Mountain was one we loved the “Three Sisters” but something was missing… Hahaha🤣🤣🤣

We saw John Ford point – it’s the point where many Hollywood Directors shoot their scenes 🎥🎞 Duffy told us about life as Navajo then and now, and the difference in Navajo life versus our lives. Work is done on a barter system here. He said often people will see Navajo and by looking at their homes, assume they appear poor. But for the Navajo, having material things are not important, and just meet physical needs like shelter, food and water.We got to go into a real Hogan and met a lady who’s family is one of the 7 families who own Monument Valley. She taught us how to take sheep’s wool, brush it in one direction (many many many times) and then spin it into usable wool.I know why Navajo rugs cost so much now – these things are a huge amount of work!

We visited some arches within the park, and listened to a flute performance by Duffy and the other guides

Remember the scene in Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom where the snakes are all around? It was filmed hereand we got to see a petroglyph on the rock wallOf course we did some climbing 😉Duffy showed us a poison plant that Navajo would mix with rattlesnake venom and dip the tip of their arrows into for battle, and of course boys thought this was very cool!

And we saw some petroglyphs that are estimated to have been draw between 500-1300ad

I kind of think the petroglyphs look like Dr Suess’ sneetches 🤨

This was a really cool arch called the sun’s eye, because… it looks like the suns eye!I think it’s safe to say the boys (and Mike and I) loved this tour today!Again with the black and white 🤪Duffy was awesome! So glad we did this tour today.

Once we finished the tour, we went though the Navajo Park Museum. It was clear from the plaques and wording that the presence was of non-Navajo people was tolerated but not preferred. Of course, it hard to blame the Navajo, when there were still Acts of Congress that prevented running water and electric lines to parts of the Navajo Nation until 2006 😳

Once we finished in the museum we filled up with gas and started making our way to the Four Corners area. And it was time to open Mom’s Restaurant on US Highway 163 🤗We passed the famous “Mexican Hat” and crossed into Colorado (clearly we aren’t on a major interstate with this mega sign 🤪When we say these are long roads, they are looonnnggg roads!But some are more familiar than others. Does this ring any bells?How about now?Yep! It’s the Forest Gump Hill and there was cars everywhere trying to get this picture – some crazy people were standing in the middle of road making a selfie 🤦🏻‍♀️. (or That could be nature just thinning the herd 🤷🏻‍♀️)

Anyway, we finally made it to Four Corners Monument. Monument is a strong word for this spot. It’s basically a Navajo park that they charge you $20 for admission. They have port-o-johns for use that have seen their better days. And then there are brick and mortar flea market stands around this big stone markerbut it’s still pretty cool to say you stood in 4 states at the same timeCrossing into New Mexico – Rabbit! (For those not related to me, you say rabbit when you cross into a new state for good luck)

We did some flea market shopping and headed on down the road… Go fish is our new pastime when we use all our iPad minutes 😀I have never heard such smack talk over Go Fish!!

This moment was one of my favorites today❤️

We arrived in Farmington, New Mexico today! The hotel is very nice – newly renovated and very clean. But Farmington isn’t what we expected. We were supposed to stay 2 nights here but we can cover all there is to do by lunch tomorrow. So we’ve adjusted plans and are headed to Colorado a day early.

We did find an amazing Italian place tonight that made coming to Farmington worth it. Trattoria di Barnardone. Wow!!! It was fantastic! Homemade pasta and sauces 🤗 And the dessert was awesome too

So tomorrow we are sleeping in, and then headed to Colorado for a little more fun before we head home on Saturday 😊