Ockey Family Adventures: Arizona Day 6

We saw this huge train in front of the Pioneer Museum. We decided we needed to stop.

This morning we let the kids sleep in (or maybe they let us sleep in) after the late night at the observatory. We didn't leave the hotel until nine o'clock, and then we headed north. There is a lava cave that we wanted to see, but it is about a half hour north of Flagstaff. On our way we passed a museum that looked kind of fun, but we didn't have time for it. When we finally reached the turnoff on a forest road for the lava cave it was closed due to snow. So we turned around and did the Flagstaff Pioneer Museum instead. They had a pretty cool train out front, and there were plenty of things to do in the old building. They had set up the display rooms representing each decade. They started in 1880 and moved all the way through the 1960s. There was a cool Model-T and an old fire engine, as well as a playroom where Seth dressed up like a cowboy and Mark and Dax fought over checkers. We found out they had a Junior Curator program, which the kids were excited about, too.

This old Model T was super cool!

Mark wanted to bring this tortilla making machine home.

Mark and Dax are serious about their checkers!

Seth loves dressing up, so this was perfect for him!

We enjoyed all of the old farm equipment.

Seth liked the old firetruck!

After the museum, we planned to head south. There are three national monuments south of Flagstaff that needed a visit. Montezuma's Castle was a really impressive ruin. It is all original and built into the side of the cliff. It isn't as massive as some of the ruins in Mesa Verde, but it is in almost perfect condition. You can even see the mud plastered on the outer wall. The kids earned their Junior Ranger badges and then we headed up the road to Montezuma's Well. This is a branch of the park that has a few more ruins and a deep pool of water that is constantly flowing. The natives also built an amazing irrigation canal, which was well worth seeing. The boys did the second half of the Junior Ranger badge, but the small kiosk was out of them. We had to drive back to Montezuma's Castle, which was about twenty minutes out of the way.

Montezuma Castle was high on the cliff.

It was set in a beautiful location. I would love to live there!

Montezuma Well was even more beautiful.

There were ruins overlooking the large well.

We were highly impressed with the canal that the ancient people built.

That left us a few hours to visit Tuzigoot, the last Sinagua ruin in the area. We made it in plenty of time and took the short walk to the ruin. This one was much more like Wupatki, which we visited the day before. The ruin was placed like a castle on top of the ridge with a commanding view all around. We saw so many amazing ruins on this trip, and they are all unique and interesting.

There were so many pots in the museum. These were Seth's favorites.

Dax really loved Tuzigoot!

The boys have been great vacationers!

Mom and Dad are the exhausted ones.

Mom loves taking pictures with the boys.

For dinner we splurged on a show at the Blazing M Chuckwagon. It was just a few minutes from Tuzigoot, so it seemed like a good plan. It was really expensive, but we did get a break on the cost. The manager asked Dad if he was a member of Triple-A (no). Was he an Arizona resident (no)? Active or retired military (no)? "I'm trying to get you some kind of discount here, Buddy..." After Dad told the manager he was a member of the KISS Army in the 1980s, he laughed pretty hard. Believe it or not, the receipt was credited with a 15% military discount!

The Chuckwagon show was great! The boys loved exploring the property before the show. There were several shops. One had dioramas that were all carved out of wood with cunningly crafted moving pieces. There were a few that you put a quarter into and they rolled around and did different things. They were really unique pieces of art. We also played horseshoes and tried to rope a fake cow. There was even a wagon ride. The boys probably had the most fun feeding the animals: a pig, cow, horses, donkey, goat, and chicken.

We saw this bird on the way to the Blazin' M Ranch. We have decided it's a Zone Tailed Hawk, but there was quite a disagreement about it. A new bird for everyone!

They are so silly!

Dax was an excellent roper.

Mark made friends with the pig.

Dax is petrified of feeding animals, but he got braver as the night went on.

The big jersey cow reminded Dad of his milking days.

Seth loves to feed all the animals!

He even got to ride a (fake) horse!

We took a wagon ride around the property.

Seth enjoyed his candy stick a little too much!

Finally the dinner bell rang. There was plenty of food and the boys ate pretty well. We had ribs and chicken with baked potatoes and prickly pear coleslaw. They brought ice cream and apple crisp at the end, too. Then the show started, and we found out the two members of the Blazing M band were sick. They had called on their friends from the Bar D Chuckwagon in Durango to fill in for them. Our boys were excited because they'd loved that show when they saw it a few years ago on our trip to Carlsbad Cavern. We laughed as they sang about the squirrel that came to church and the farm with dysfunctional animals. We had such a great time, and the boys were all abuzz on the ride home. We didn't get back until after ten o'clock, but it was a really great day.