Petroglyphs National Monument in MN
October 20, 2006
It was a very lazy morning; we didn’t really get going until noon. We drove over to Petroglyphs National Monument in Albuquerque, NM. The petroglyphs include animals, insects and geometric designs. The human figures are usually showed with their hands up, legs apart and on a stick. We walked among the petroglyphs, through the rocks of West Mesa, a table of land west of the Rio Grande when 150,000 years ago lava flowed. Long ago people discovered they could chip away the rock’s thin desert varnish and revel a lighter gray leaving a lasting mark. People many years ago made these rocks come alive with messages. The pueblo elder, William Weahkee said, “ each rock is the keeper of a message left y ancestors…there are spirits, guardians and medicine here.” We began our exploration listening to Ranger Diane, 
whose family just moved here from Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh, give a talk arranged by a gentleman originally from Pennsylvania. We drove about two miles out to Boca Negra Canyon and walked the trails. Along with hundreds of petroglyphs the high desert came alive with a Ferruginous hawk soaring, baby brown bunnies busy bumping burrs at the base of big boulders, roadrunners dashing into fragrant sage, lizards creeping over lava rocks, ground squirrels bending the short grass so they could eat the seeds and bus loads of people looking for rock art….the Pueblo people use 27 words to say those two.
We continued west on I40. We passed several signs for historic route 66, an old metal bridge, and decided to get off the interstate and take old route 66 for a stretch. We found a spot near the railroad tracks to stop. It was windy. We made some dinner and watched Virus.
It was a very lazy morning; we didn’t really get going until noon. We drove over to Petroglyphs National Monument in Albuquerque, NM. The petroglyphs include animals, insects and geometric designs. The human figures are usually showed with their hands up, legs apart and on a stick. We walked among the petroglyphs, through the rocks of West Mesa, a table of land west of the Rio Grande when 150,000 years ago lava flowed. Long ago people discovered they could chip away the rock’s thin desert varnish and revel a lighter gray leaving a lasting mark. People many years ago made these rocks come alive with messages. The pueblo elder, William Weahkee said, “ each rock is the keeper of a message left y ancestors…there are spirits, guardians and medicine here.” We began our exploration listening to Ranger Diane, 
whose family just moved here from Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh, give a talk arranged by a gentleman originally from Pennsylvania. We drove about two miles out to Boca Negra Canyon and walked the trails. Along with hundreds of petroglyphs the high desert came alive with a Ferruginous hawk soaring, baby brown bunnies busy bumping burrs at the base of big boulders, roadrunners dashing into fragrant sage, lizards creeping over lava rocks, ground squirrels bending the short grass so they could eat the seeds and bus loads of people looking for rock art….the Pueblo people use 27 words to say those two.We continued west on I40. We passed several signs for historic route 66, an old metal bridge, and decided to get off the interstate and take old route 66 for a stretch. We found a spot near the railroad tracks to stop. It was windy. We made some dinner and watched Virus.
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