Chaco! Catwalk! Another whole pot!

I must admit: I have really enjoyed supervising a field school, and I also really enjoy going on field trips... but I'll be supremely happy when I return to Tucson next week and no longer have to drive a 15-passenger van.  Last weekend we went on a mondo-sized field trip, which included visits to Zuni Pueblo, Chaco Canyon, El Malpais Nat'l Monument, and Acoma Pueblo.  It'd been years since I'd visited Chaco, so this was pretty exciting for me... AND Josh came to visit and join us on the trip, which made it even better!

Of course I had to take the obligatory Chacos-Over-Chaco photo, and there was definitely some red wine in a nalgene, although unfortunately that did not make it into the photographic record.  We had beautifully dark skies for star-watching, and slept under the stars without tents (which is the only way to go when you're at Chaco, if you ask me).

Josh stayed around for an extra day after we returned to camp, and I tried to ensure that he finally got a basic idea of what exactly it is that I do out here in the dirty dirt.  He screened for artifacts and helped us around the site, and also produced this really awesome time-lapse video of my crew and I working all day long.  Check out the video, it's very cool.

Yesterday we had a day off, and I took some of the students up to a place called The Catwalk.  It's an old mining operation set back into a beautiful canyon, and the historic trails and log flumes have been turned into hiking paths.  We found some deep pools and spent the morning lounging in the cold water-- I probably could have stayed there for the entire day if we'd not had to go into town to do our bi-weekly laundry.

And... drumroll please... I found another whole pot!  Yep, that's right.  This is officially the coolest hole-in-the-ground that I have ever dug.  I'm not going to post a photo of it right now, but I may do so later.  Just know that it is beautiful, completely intact, and awesome.  And considering that today was the last day of digging in my unit, it was the best way possible to close things off.

The next few days will be busy with paperwork, maps, and cleaning up camp; then we head home July 5th.  I've had a blast out here, but I have to say that I'm looking forward to getting back to my shower and my bed and my dogs and my boy.  And probably after about a week of being home I'll be ready to do it all over again.