“You have allowed this dark lord to twist your mind, until now, until now you’ve become the very thing you swore to destroy.” – Obi-Wan Kenobi to Anakin Skywalker, Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
For those of you don’t remember me talking about it before, Dad Windu is passionate about roads. Long, straight roads with minimal changes in elevation. Guard rails and wide, paved shoulders would not.be.optional in his perfect world. Forty-four miles (travel time: 2 hours) of switchbacks up to the Cliff Dwellings of the Gila National Forest and another 65 miles (3 hours) of some of the worst switchbacks either of us has ever seen back out (we had to take a different route out for our next destination) had DW frequently exclaiming, “I hate this road!” Thankfully, we had book three of the Percy Jackson series to keep us company.
But even with all the traveling nastiness (I should admit that I spent my time knitting a slipper, so the drive didn’t bother me at all), PL – riding shotgun – and DW both admit that the cliff dwellings were too cool to pass up. I highly recommend that you all put them on your Must See list. Just bring along the Dramamine.
We met two homeschooling brothers that volunteer at the Cliff Dwellings and a very nice German couple that was absolutely ga-ga over meeting three homeschooling kids in one morning. They asked us about why we homeschool (the other boys live in a very remote area), how we homeschool, the benefits to being able to travel at will, and etc.
Obi-Mom Kenobi, secular homeschool ambassador.
I’m happy that you liked it. After your last post I started wondering if I should have warned you about the road (or lack there of)
We knew about it going in (well, kind of), but knew it would be worth the drive. (DW would even agree to that statement now that he’s in no danger of having to repeat that drive.)
Yeah, we didn’t go to these cliff dwellings over the summer. But, I had the pleasure of driving into Mesa Verde for those cliff dwelling. Switchbacks, no guard rails, infinite drop offs. And then, there was the 1 mile hike in scorching heat with depleted water supply…
Ahh, the stories we will tell, over and over…
Well I’m glad y’all did the driving and I get to see the photos. Perfection.
Oh! I have great memories of visiting there as a child. Wonderful!
I am loving all these photos. I remember when we went to Tofino with you and DW through the island mountain roads. As I recall he wasn’t too crazy about those either.
I made the mistake of reading this blog in the same room as hubby, and making a comment. So then he wanted to see all the pictures, and now he’s depressed. If you guys ever do this again, I’m seriously sticking him in your trunk!!
That’s a place I really want to visit. When I’m sure DS won’t jump off the side.