Monday, December 21, 2009

INDIAN RUINS

While in Blanding for Thanksgiving Codee and I went on quite the excursion looking at indian ruins. His aunt and uncle own over a hundred acres of land with multiple indian ruins on them. They gave us each a four-wheeler to ride and we set out for the afternoon.
When we started I thought we were just going to one ruin that they had been talking about. But they took us to 5 different places on their property. I can't even begin to describe how amazing everything is. At each ruin you can find broken pottery, arrowheads, tools, jewelry and many other things. What is so amazing about all of it is that the ruins are from the Anasazi Indians from approximately 1500 years ago. YES I said one thousand five hundred years ago. Some archeologists even believe they emerged around 1200 B.C.
With each site we went to the trip became more amazing! I am now completely fascinated with the history of this region. I even brought home a few pieces of broken pottery. You have to see the pictures I took!!! And I apologize now for the picture overload. Words simply can't describe everything we saw. The first 2 ruins had to be dug out. Yes... someone sifted through all the dirt and has uncovered the ancient homes. And you'll see a picture of my brusied, swollen ankle from when I accidently rolled the four-wheeler over myself while going up a steep hill.
Their dogs that seriosuly ran miles while we rode the four-wheelers.

Ridin' dirty

Welcome home!

The front door

Some sort of work place. They think maybe for grinding grain or working with food.

The next ruin


Writing on the wall

Another location

This one was way up on the ledge of a cliff

I don't think I could live a week here...

They think this is where they would sharpen thier tools and sticks

And they saved the best for last. This ruin was underneath a cliff and seriosuly spectacular!










And my big ankle! This was right after it happened, it was literally black 2 days later.

This is some of the pottery, jewelry and tools they've recovered from their property. All the pots were smashed and have been carefully glued back together. They spent over a month looking for one missing piece on one.


Tuesday, December 8, 2009

THANKSGIVING

For Thanksgiving this year Codee took me down to Blanding to have Thanksgiving with his grandparents. I have never been to Blanding and all I knew is that it was a very small town. So small, it doesn't even have a traffic signal... just a flashing 4-way stop. They do have a Subway (which almost every small town has) and an A&W inside of a gas station. Oh! And they also had a movie theatre! And it surprisingly wasn't playing "Old Yeller".
Codee's grandparents made an AMAZING Thanksgiving feast! Later that night, Codee's grandma showed me pictures from her genealogy book. She had pictures of her family from the late 1800's. It was so fascinating to see so much history! And it was fun to see the pictures of Codee when he was little and pictures of his mom when she was growing up.
I was very surprised with how much fun we had over the weekend. The town holds a lot more excitement then you'd expect.

Codee's grandpa making the best mashed potatoes I've ever had in my life!

Codee's Grandma, Codee's mom Kitt and his brother Kye

Adorable Sydney!

My Thanksgiving feast!