On Wednesday we drove to Banelier National Monument and took the shuttle down to the cliffs. I am always a little nervous to be separated from my car and dependent on public transportation with my little kids. It ended up being a close call, but we made it there and back without any tantrums on the shuttle.
The cliffs were inhabited 10,000 years ago by the ancestors of the pueblo people. Exploring them felt like we were stepping into a different time period or different country. And it was terrifying because I was afraid my kids would fall off of the cliffs. I can’t imagine how people raised children in these homes so long ago! At one point I just clutched Clarissa and made my way back down as fast as I could, and when I got down I looked back up and felt certain Ammon would run ahead of Abe and topple to his death. Abe was busy helping the girls up and down the ladders so they could explore the cliff dwellings, but some kind tourists helped out and kept Ammon from killing himself. There are such good people everywhere.
After this hike, Clarissa started to get really focused on the idea of her bottle. We had forgotten to bring it, and so we hightailed it back to the shuttle stop and tried very hard to distract her until it came. The next hour was spent getting back to our car and to her milk, eating lunch at the Fig and Pig restaurant, and then jumping in the car and driving a couple hours to Fort Union National Monument, which closed five minutes before we arrived. The ranger in charge was so nice and let Abe run in and explore it quickly anyway. (Ammon and I got stuck in the bathroom, so we just peaked at the fort from a distance.)
The ranger told Abe all about a famous hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico that we should check out. So we went took his advice and learned all about what a crazy history Las Vegas, NM has. It used to be the most dangerous town in the West. Teddy Roosevelt visited the hotel we ate at and announced from its steps that a new civilized era was dawning the West. Las Vegas really needed that message because things were so bad that the town’s kids had been so influenced by the constant violence and public executions that they acted out by hanging their pet dogs on the city water wheel. So gruesome and sad. We learned all this while eating dinner on the hotel porch. We had it to ourselves so the kids could run crazy and wild.
