If you pay close enough attention to our posts, you’ll notice that you never see any sunrise pictures, but plenty of sunset pictures. The reason is quite simple, when we’re travelling we don’t wake up early enough to take pictures of a sunrise. If you ever do see us post a picture of a sunrise, you can almost guarantee that it is because we never went to bed ;). Indeed, we take pictures of sunsets on almost every trip, but for obvious reasons, especially when we’re on a beach. This is a bit of a hectic week as work is being unrelenting as we try to get everything done that we need to before heading to Cabo on Friday. So we decided that this week we would share a few of our favorite sunsets. It is amazing how different sunsets can look in all of the different places.
Sunset in Puerto VallartaSunset in the Costa Del Sol in SpainSunset in Cabo San LucasSunset at the Rock of GibraltarSunset at Resort at Disney WorldSunset over the Pacific OceanSunset in Aspen, ColoradoAnother Cabo SunsetColorado SunsetFrom Our House 🙂
Whenever we travel places, regardless of where it is, we tend to try to imagine what it was like hundreds or thousands of years ago. Fortunately, there are a few places where you don’t have to use your imagination, but they have been preserved or unearthed by archeologists. In the four corners area, where Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona meet at a single point, there are two excellent ancient ruins that you should definitely visit if you’re in the area. There are the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde National Park, which is located near Alamosa, Colorado and the Aztec Ruins National Monument, which is in New Mexico. We visited them several years ago with the kids and it was a great experience.
Mesa Verde National ParkAztec Ruins National MonumentCliff Dwelling
One of the great things about Mesa Verde National Park is that you’re able to climb up to and walk through the cliff dwellings located there. The ancient Pueblo people inhabited the dwellings for about 700 years between 600 and 1300 AD. Some of the most interesting buildings are the Kivas, which the Pueblo people used for ceremonies. There is a whole in dug into the center of the floor of the Kivas called a sipapu, which represents their belief that their ancestors came to the surface from the underworld. It is well worth taking a tour while you’re there so that you learn about the ancient Pueblo people as well the current efforts to preserve the ruins. The kids really enjoyed the fact that they were able to walk through the ruins, through the doorways, hallways, into the Kivas, it is a true hands on experience.
Mesa Verde Cliff DwellingsClimbing Ladders to the Cliff DwellingsKiva with Sipapu
Mesa Verde is the most well-known ruin in the area, but take the time to visit the Aztec Ruin National Monument. These aren’t cliff dwellings, but the more typical ruins of the ancient Pueblo people. A smaller version of the ruins found at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, this not as well-known ruin is another great place to explore the history of the Southwest. You are able to walk through these ruins as well, although not as well-preserved as the ruins at Mesa Verde, it is still a treat to visit. Understanding that there was a civilization building large cities here in the United States over a thousand years ago is often a surprise to people as we always think of Europe and the Middle East as the cradle of civilization.
Pueblo RuinsAztec RuinsMore Aztec Ruins
Visiting ancient ruins in the United States is truly a special experience. Obviously going to Greece or Italy to visit ancient ruins is a classic experience, but you don’t have to fly overseas to see ancient ruins. It is well worth taking time to visit our own ancient ruins and learn about the people who inhabited North America so long ago. Thanks to the hard work of the archeologists, we’re able to step back in time and imagine ourselves in an ancient city bustling with hundreds of ancient Pueblo citizens.
To say that we’re into Halloween would be the understatement of a lifetime. We’ve been throwing Halloween parties for twenty years now and every year we add a few more decorations, so we’ve accumulated a lot of really cool things. For the ten years, the parties were for the kids, but now we’re all about the adult Halloween party. This year’s party is tomorrow, so we’re frantically getting ready since our remodeling work didn’t finish until two days ago. It normally takes us two weeks to decorate the entire house, so the pressure has been on to finish and get everything done in time.
Party SignPumpkin JackFront Yard Scene
We decorate both inside and outside and every year the theme for the outdoor decorations change. This year’s theme is spiders, so we had fun building a giant spider web that spanned the entire front porch. We even have a body wrapped in spider webs hanging from the top of the porch. We always do a small cemetery scene, so spiders are crawling throughout. We also match our costumes to the theme, so we’re dressing as Frodo (assuming you get the reference from the Lord of the Rings) and a Black Widow. Inside the house, we go as far as changing out our artwork and even change some of our curtains.
Animated WitchCreepy CatMantelpieceGiant Spider
We’re making marinated mushrooms, antipasto spears (with olives, marinated peppers, prosciutto, pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese), tea sandwiches, pumpkin sage shrimp, and a variety of other snacks. Obviously we’ll have plenty wine and beer on hand as well. We wish you could all join us for the party, but we’ve added some pictures to help everyone get into the spirit of the party.
Rising CorpseScarecrowWitch with CurtainsSpiders in the Yard
