New Mexico!

Yay! I finally went to New Mexico to visit my dad! He's been working at a mine there for the past while and I've been wanting to visit him for awhile. My mom and my niece, Madison, went with me. ROAD TRIP! (By the way, the next couple of posts are going to be kinda long because I have a lot of pictures! Hee hee)

Here we are! On our way to New Mexico!

Here's the Monticello, Utah Temple. It is a small temple, and it's very pretty!

These ruins are by the little town of Aztec. Madison and I went to visit them while Mom worked and Dad had a nap after working.

Hurray! A door that is just right for Madison! Hee hee!

It was actually not too bad for me either. :) Of course that would be because this door wasn't native to the ruins...that door will be coming up...

This wooden ceiling was the original ceiling for these ruins.

Here's the original door! Even Madi was too tall for it!

Which meant I was definitely too tall for it!

This is what's left of a Kiva. Archeologists believe that these were used for religious/ceremonial purposes.

This is a Kiva that an archeologist restored.

Here's a far-off shot of the ruins.

Mesa Verde

While we were in New Mexico we went to Mesa Verde. It was awesome! This is a pretty big post because of the pictures, but I wanted all of the ones that I chose...and there were a TON that I didn't post! Ha ha ha!

This was an elk farm on the way to Mesa Verde. These bulls were HUGE!

My niece Madi and I hanging out in the backseat on the way to Mesa Verde.

I love my parents!

The Tower House. The Ancestral Puebloans built their homes right in the cliffs!

So cute!!! :)

Aren't they incredible?!

This ladder was awesome! It doesn't look very tall here, but it was!

This is a complex called the Balcony House. There was only one way in and that was a tiny tunnel. I have pictures of it next.

Here's the tunnel!

Dad barely made it through. Ha ha ha!

It was almost just right for Madison. :)

This picture was taken inside a Kiva.

The Petroglyphs. We hiked about 2 miles to see these. The hike was really pretty but we probably should have done it at the beginning of the day instead of the end. Hee hee!

Eventually our New Mexico trip had to end. On the way home we saw the sunflower fields. They were so big!

This rock was on the way home too. If you look closely you can see a door at the base of it. I'm very curious to know what it was for.

I don't remember the name of this arch, but it was on the way home too. We counted it as our trip to Arches National Park since we didn't make it there like we were thinking of doing. :)

It was so fun to visit my dad in New Mexico and learn a little bit more about his life there and about the Native Americans. It was also fun to have a road trip with my mom and my niece. I loved it!

Sterling Falls

For my sister's birthday in August we went on a hike to Sterling Falls. It was a gorgeous hike and the falls were totally worth it! They were beautiful! We rode up the ski lift first and then we hiked about a mile and a half to the falls and then we hiked back. It was a lot of fun! Here's a few pics...