- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
Aztec Ruins National Monument
Categories: Active Life Parks Local Flavor Arts & Entertainment Museums Parks, Local Flavor, Museums [Edit]
Visitors Center84 County Rd
Aztec, NM 87410
(505) 334-6174
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
5 reviews for Aztec Ruins National Monument
5 reviews in English
-
Review from Sam S.
4/21/2012 1 Check-in Here
Aztec Ruins National Monument is an awesome site for southwest archaeology. The ruins and history of the monument are very interesting and fun to explore. I would think this would be a great place for kids because you have the opportunity to climb inside some of the finished rooms and really explore the place. But make sure you watch your head! Many of the doorways are very low and its easy to bump your head if you're not careful. The restored great kiva at Aztec Ruins was also very impressive -- even if the accuracy of the restoration is somewhat doubtful. Next to Mesa Verde National Park these are some of my favorite southwest ruins.
-
Review from DestinationFamilyVacation M.
Phoenix, AZ
6/25/2011
Great park! Our kids loved all the small doorways, just their size. The rangers were really polite and extra nice to our kids!
The actual ruins were fantastic. We all really enjoyed getting to walk through the rooms and the restored Kiva was really cool! The Museum part could use a little revamping. But some of the artifacts were interesting.
Great for all ages and worth the park fee! -
Review from Rachel C.
2/2/2008 1 photo
The Great Kiva has been restored.
The very first time I entered, I knew I belonged. . . . . even though I am a woman and this is a man's ceremonial lodge. Maybe I was a man, a great Spirit leader in another life?
My ancestors are not Pueblo Indians, but I know I am a part of them, as much as they are a part of me. We are one.
The Great Kiva is my history too.
When you enter it is as if the men's ceremony had just paused. It is cool and dark. You can feel and almost touch the Spirits that reside here. Close your eyes . . . listen . . . hear the beat of the drums . . . .feel the soft breeze as the dancers glide by, smell the pinon wood in the open firepits. It is a special place. A mysterious place. An ancient home to Southwestern Pueblo Indians (not Aztec Indians, as was once believed).
Get a trail map, walk these ruins. Summer and winter you can feel the lives that called this wonderful place their home.
Aztec Ruins and the Great Kiva are in the "modern" City of Aztec, NM in the northwest corner of New Mexico. Beautiful, desolute, high desert country.
Combine a trip to Aztec Ruins with a visit to Mesa Verde in southern Colorado. Compare the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde with the gentle rolling land that Aztec and Chaco Canyon Ruins were built on.
Mesa Verde is just 85 miles northwest and Chaco Canyon is just a mere 65 miles west.
Did these peoples share common ancestors?
Did they live here at the same time?
Did they trade?
Before you visit the museums and read the archeological & anthropological documents . . . see what you think?
What do you feel?
Where did these people go?
What drove them away from these beautiful stone structures?
What is the mysterious green stripe on the west side of the stone wall?
It feels so real, so now, as you stand in the soft sand footprints where moccasins once walked. Listen to the drums rhymic boom, boom, boom . . . . enter the Great Kiva.
This is the Land of our ancestors . . . no matter who we are . . .no matter where we came from . . .no matter where we live now . . . no matter . . . no matter . . . .kaboom, kaboom, kaboom . . we are one with this land . . .one with this nature.
Our country is so rich with history and pre-history.
Visit it. . . . . .
Take your kids. . . . . .
Help them touch places like Aztec Ruins and the Great Kiva. We will all be better because you did. -
Review from Michael W.
La Verne, CA
4/20/2010 14 photos
When you drive up to this crappy little town you dont expect much.
A sign says the "Aztec Ruins" are nearby.
We deiced to go and drive down there.
Theres a small office you have to go through to go see the ruins.
The other people I was with thought it couldn't be that exciting.
We had seen the Grand canyon already.
What could beat that?
I truly like this place better than the Grand Canyon.
The architecture is amazing.
The amount of intact structures allows you to actually go in and through some of them.
I cant overstate how cool this place is if you care about American historyListed in: 10 percent, Cultural Places, Fun Places to hit on a road…, Photo Op, Man Made
-
Review from Patrick S.
Oakland, CA
