Manitou Cliff Dwellings in Colorado Springs.

After we left Pike's Peak Saturday morning we skipped down the road a bit to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. I have always wanted to see Mesa Verde but right now that's just a little too far away but these were a good alternative. 

If you are ever looking for a good place to go to on vacation I would highly recommend Colorado Springs. There are so many things to do in this area that are so close together. We were able to hit four different locations in one day and we still took an afternoon break at the hotel. 

We were able to walk through most of the structures and see some of the artifacts and get explanations about how the "apartments" were set up. These cliff dwellings were built by the ancient Anasazi people. Yap's checking out some grain grinding stones above and a grain bin is below. 

This is part of the kiva, an underground ceremonial area. 

This is a wall of a three family apartment. The holes are where logs would have been that created the floors and ceilings. The rooms themselves were extremely small; I'd guess roughly 6x6 in some cases with the ceilings being less than 5 feet tall. Either the Anasazi Indians 

Here we are patiently waiting to climb a ladder to check out a second story room. 

These are some petroglyphs that were roughly 12 feet above the ground. The meanings aren't clear but are believed to be symbols for rain. 

Not only are there ancient cliff dwellings at the Manitou site but there is also a pueblo that has been renovated into a museum/gift shop. 

I have ALWAYS wanted to try and bake bread in one of these! Anyone willing to build one in my back yard? LOL 

Bowls 1300 A.D. 

Aren't. These. Gorgeous?!

While some women drool over Fiesta ware, THIS is what I wish I had in my cabinets! I am such a sucker for a beautiful artifact. 

By now it's about lunchtime on our Saturday Colorado excursion and we still had two places left to go that day! We squeezed a lot into one day but there are so many things to do in this town that we could go back for another weekend and visit totally different places! 

Big thumbs up for Colorado Springs! 

Old Fort Hays

After we finished with the Sternberg Museum of Natural History we drove over to the Old Fort Hays. Fort Hays is located near Interstate 70 and is mostly associated with George Armstrong Custer and "Wild Bill" Hickok. Fort Hays was an important U.S. Army post that was active from 1865 until 1889. It was a much larger western fort than Fort Larned because it was near the railroad and served as a supply depot for the military in the West. 

We started off in the visitors center where we could touch many Native American artifacts. 

These gloves were made from buffalo. The inside of the thumbs were covered in buffalo hair as was the inside back of your hands. These were sooo warm! 

Yap enjoyed re enacting his Indian holler! 

Today four original buildings survive: the blockhouse , guardhouse (above), and two officers' quarters but in the late 1800's the fort covered over 170 acres with many more buildings. The reason most of Ft. Hays buildings are gone is because they were wooden and moved out of the area to be used as homes or the materials were used for other reasons. Ft. Larned's buildings are all stone which is why that fort has remained intact through the years. 

Throughout the Old Fort's location there were signs indicating where other buildings used to stand along with interesting facts about the fort. The fort is supposedly haunted by the "Blue Lady" Elizabeth Polly who was a cholera victim in 1867. We didn't see her, unfortunately...I always thought it would be interesting to see a ghost. 

Inside the guardhouse the boys got to try on the heavy wool uniforms of the Union soldiers. 

They refused to smile; they didn't think real soldiers would have smiled for a picture! 

The guardhouse was also the jail for soldiers arrested for all sorts of offences. Yahoo kept hollering, "Lock me in!" and insisting that we shut the door on her! 

We didn't spend too much time at the fort, not nearly as much time as I would have liked. I would have loved to spend a lot more time in the blockhouse, as it was I didn't even get any photos of it. The kids were tired from the long trip and were getting hungry but I'm glad that we were able to take them to Fort Hays regardless. My dad always says that it even though kids don't look at every single exhibit or read every single sign that they ARE LEARNING SOMETHING. It may take years for all those little memories, facts, and experiences to mesh together into understanding. 

Without me knowing it these little day trips make an impact on my kids and I truly believe they'll be better for it. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

A Thanksgiving Day Prayer

We humbly ask Thy blessing,

on the turkey and the dressing,

on the yams and cranberry jelly,

and the pickles from the deli.

Bless the apple pie and tea,

bless each and every calorie.

Let us enjoy Thanksgiving dinner.

Tomorrow we can all get thinner.

For all Thy help along the way

we're thankful this Thanksgiving Day.

We're thankful too, for all our dear ones,

for all the far away and near ones.

Although we may be far apart,

we're together in my heart.

Keep us in Thy loving care,

This is my Thanksgiving prayer.

P.S. Anyone who wishes may help with the dishes.

Author Unknown

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love Yap, Yahoo and Yip

Eiteljorg Art Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana

Friday,  I met my parents, sister, brother in law and cousin in Indianapolis to hit some museums. Our first stop was the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art downtown. This is my favorite art museum! My wonderful high school art teacher introduced it to me as a teenager, I took field trips later with my own students, and visited on my own a number of times as an adult. I was so excited now to be able to take my own children and share it with them.

Currently, there is a special exhibition of engraved pistols....amazing! They had a master engraver giving demonstrations and explaining the process (no pictures allowed :( ) But Annie Oakley was the big hit with my boys! A wonderful lady dressed up as Annie, explained about her life with Bill Cody and then, oh my goodness, allowed my boys to "shoot" her rifle!

Of course we looked at all the fantastic artwork too. Some of my favorites are O'Keefe, Couse, Russell and Remington, Terpning...I could go on and on.

Renovated since I was here last, the Eiteljorg  has added a stagecoach for kids to climb into and a saddle to check out. Very neat!!

We also went through the Indiana State Museum right next door. Between the two are giant slabs of, what I assume, is limestone. The boys loved climbing all over these...who wouldn't?

The bottom floor of the Indiana State Museum begins with the natural history of the state. Yip and his cousin even got to talk to an archeologist all about hunting mastadons.

Then there was the early historical period of Indiana. Yap was enchanted with a model of how the lock and canal system worked in early Indiana.

And here is my sister educating my cousin on the wonderful woman who was Maconaquah!

The State Museum also has a fantastic exhibit on Abraham Lincoln on loan from the Library of Congress but cameras weren't allowed inside. There are some amazing Lincoln documents in the exhibit! A must if you are in the area!

It was a beautiful day on Friday so after we were finished at the museums we walked down the White River State Park canal which was right out the back door of the museums. Hundreds of people were out that day on bikes and paddleboats. This little piece of downtown Indianapolis is packed with some wonderful attractions! Within walking distance from where we were there is also the baseball stadium and the zoo and so much more.  I love Indianapolis! Definitely a place to visit if you get the chance :)