Our Fall Adventure, Part 4: Capulin Volcano National Monument

On the advice of Mr. Cool's brother, we made a fairly short detour from Raton, NM to visit Capulin Volcano.  I had no idea that that part of New Mexico had been rife with volcanos--and we had a great hike--we had the volcano all to ourselves!  The volcano had a lovely shelter built in the 1930s, and a winding road initially carved out with plows and livestock.  We managed three stamps in our National Park System passports this trip, and each one was amazing in its own right.  I'm not sure if Lincoln will remember this trip, but hopefully we can show him the stamps and trigger a faint recollection!

Lincoln near the top of the volcano--overlooking the vent (and parking lot!)

View from the top of Capulin--you can see Baby Capulin, a smaller cinder cone volcano.

Volcanic rock near the vent.

The 1930s era shelter, built with bricks of volcanic rock.

Our Fall Adventure, Part 2: Montezuma's Castle National Monument

I remembered stopping by this beautifully set cliff dwelling when I was a little girl traveling through Arizona--and I was pleased to find it as simple and lovely as I remembered.  

This is the main building that remains--not huge, but well-preserved.  And the ancient peoples who lived here picked a gorgeous place to live--and we were lucky enough to visit before all the sycamore trees had lost their golden leaves.