Packed day

Yesterday began with the arrival of Steve and Julie from Durango. This was a busy day and because we are heading out again this morning this is just a brief glimpse of what we saw yesterday.
 

The first stop was Dad's Diner for breakfast.

Once we were fueled up it was off to the Rom Bolack Museum of Fish and Wildlife.

The unique entrance with the elephant carved on the door.

Once inside we were amazed at the variety of animals on display, it was in the hundreds.

Many of the animals were shot by Mr. Bolack himself who was quite a hunter. He also served the state of New Mexico as Attorney General and had a two month stint as interim Governor.

This is just one of many displays.

Another look at some of the local animals. There were animals from five continents represented in the museum.

This fellow was especially menacing as he prepared to pounce on unsuspecting visitors.

After the museum we still had some time on our hands so we rode out to the Salmon Ruins which is a State run archeological site close to town.

This is a look from the museum onto the site below. Part of what you see is a recreation, but the building in the upper center is the original Salmon family homestead.

Here Shelly, Julie and Steve are exploring the ruins. 

This was a fairly large sites and the amount of stone that had to be moved to create these pueblos kept somebody busy for quite some time.

The day was finished off with a trip to Olive Garden to restock the portable pantry (belly) and then an evening of conversation on Sal and Shelly's back porch. 

Today we are off to Chaco Canyon to see more ruins and a full day of exploring is on tap. With this group of friends we are enjoying to good life to the fullest.