After breakfast, we took the Ranger tour of
Pueblo Bonito - the largest great house at Chaco. We learned a lot. When we visited these sites 23 years ago. The standard line about the Anasazi was that they had disappeared without a trace and no one knew where they’d gone or what had caused them to leave. People at the parks were just starting to realize that we did, in fact, know what had happened to them. Rather than some mysterious disappearance, they had moved on and were the ancestors of the modern day Pueblo indians. That understanding is now well-established today. Everything you hear from the Pueblo indians and the rangers makes that link clear. There are so many similarities between the architecture, the locations, and the artwork that one wonders why it took so long to make that linkage.
Pueblo Bonito has some really amazing things about it -- one of the best features is an original interior room. The roof and floor are original although it’s been re- plastered on the inside to hide vandalism on the original walls.
After the tour, we headed back to camp and had lunch and took our siesta!
Around 5pm or so, Greg and the kids took a bike ride up the trail to
Wijiji ruins. They had a great time and came back in high spirits. The sun goes down at our canyon site at 7pm. Things really started cooling down and we sat out and had cocktails and appetizers and thought cool thoughts!
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