Our hardy group was off down highway 89 to take a discovery walk at Wupatki National Monument near Flagstaff.
HHR: How was your drive to the park?
Joyce: Well, it began clear but started to snow. The closer that we got to Flagstaff the harder it snowed.
HHR: Were you nervous?
Debbie: I was. If you remember ” Debbie really doesn’t do snow.” Plus Joyce had a tough grip on the wheel. Her knuckles were white and the car was silent.
Larry: Once we passed Flagstaff, the snow stopped and it cleared up. A sunny day with no snow. Debbie was still a little shaken up. She had been trying to ride on the floor of the car.
HHR: What is Wupatki National Monument?
Jerry: I’ll handle this question. The Wupatki National Monument is a United States National Monument located near Flagstaff.
There are many settlement sites scattered throughout the monument built by the Ancient Pueblo People.
Joyce: We were signed up for a Discovery Hike for Antelope House.
HHR: What is this?
Larry: This is a Ranger led hike that provides the only public access to many areas of the monument. The ranger took us in his car and had to unlock the gates to let us in. They only do 10 of these hikes a year.
Debbie: I wanted to mention that that the ranger kind of got lost and we ambled around for awhile on foot.
Joyce: There was all kinds of pottery shards. We could pick it up but had to leave it when we left. We had to search Larry’s pockets when we left. They called it artifacts.
Debbie: We saw some trash and can’t pick it up because it is an artifact now. That just seems wrong.
HHR: What about the hike?
Larry: It was a 3 to 4 hour walk. We went to 3 locations. It was really cold and windy. I asked Debbie to share one of her 4 tops but she refused.
Jerry: We had three rangers on the hike. Our guide was Richard, his trainee was a retiree, Al and finally Brenda/Barbara. (We are not sure of her name).
Debbie: Brenda/Barbara liked to talk about plants a lot. A whole lot. Shockingly, the ranger also told us not to walk behind each other. In other words “Stay off the trail”. I felt like I was doing something wrong. It was traumatic for me.
HHR: I heard there was a pack rat on the hike?
Debbie: I don’t think the others heard this, but the ranger pointed to this large rock pile and said pack rats lived there. There is really such a think as a pack rat. I was pretty traumatized as it looked like a pack rat was a giant rat living in the ruins. Turns out it is a little rat.
Larry: We went to Flagstaff and met Debbie’s relatives for dinner.
Debbie: I got so excited that I forgot to take pictures and it snowed on the way home.
Larry: It did snow hard and I thought that I heard Debbie whimpering in the front seat.
On the way to Flagstaff 
Snow 
Really? Is Debbie hiding on the floor? 
Ranger Station 
Ruins at Wupatki 
Exploring in the wind 
A photo while hiding from the wind 
The Discovery Hike group 
They asked Larry to supervise 
What do you mean don’t stand in a line? 
Little Tower 
Pottery Shards – AKA Artifact 
Antelope house 
We don’t want to talk about plants anymore 
They said a pack rat lived here. Looks like home of a big rate, right? 
Wupatki ruins 
Larry Eng – Ninja 
RIchard, our guide 
Larry Eng signature orange backpack 
Joyce on patrol 
Scenic view
Where did you go to dinner in Flagstaff?
It was New Mexico Mexican food. I think it was MartAnne’s