Cats, Cakes, and Chaco Culture

We have been back at Russ' parent's house in Aztec, New Mexico for just over two weeks now. We have enjoyed visiting and spending the Thanksgiving Holiday here with Russ' family (we usually spend the winter holidays with my family). 

Cheers and be grateful.

Slicing the turkey.

I ate a Tofurky roast.

We used the holiday school break to take our niece and nephew to Salmon Ruins, which is a Chaco Culture site that was once a private homestead. They had a good self-tour with numbered locations to inform us about each area.

She will always find the cat.

This site had hundreds of rooms in a three story structure.

Some rooms remain un-excavated to preserve them.

Kiva.

The great Kiva. Similar to the one at Aztec Ruins.

Russ with niece and nephew at one of the homestead buildings.

 Our niece and nephew share a birthday (six years apart), so we were able to go to their birthday celebration. Two ice cream cakes were the star of the show.

Difficult to slice!

Russ and I also went to the Farmington Museum, which had several nice exhibits including a history of the gas industry in the area and some art from their permanent collection. The lunar eclipse was nice too. I set an alarm and was able to see it from inside the trailer. It was so cold outside that I didn't want a better view!

A treat on the way to the museum.

It was a well done review of local development.

Much of the art had local connections.

The Animas River was right next to the museum.

Architectural elements of the Farmington Museum.

The full moon rises before the eclipse.

We are now ready to return home. Preparations have involved getting the R-Pod and a cat ready for travel. We have set up cat supplies and worked with Cedar to get him used to the trailer and the truck. So far he does not like driving.

Lovely sunrise from the back window of the R-Pod.

He doesn't like the truck.

Our litter box set up in the trailer.

Russ installs the new shoe storage.

We used to keep our shoes under the table.

We are expecting to spend most of this trip sticking close to the trailer so the cat doesn't destroy it when we are out eating or walking. We did get him a harness and leash, so he will be able to spend some time outside. I've packed the fridge and freezer so we have what we need to eat in for the duration of the trip. Russ checked the weather on our planned route and it should be ok for the next week. We are homeward bound!