Mogollon, NM

September is a great time of year around here. It's starting to cool off a bit, but it's still plenty warm enough to be out and about without having to pack sweaters. We decided to take advantage of a beautiful Saturday and head up the mountain to the tiny "ghost" town of Mogollon. It's a gorgeous drive with views across the valley, so just getting there is fun. Once you're there the cute little town is fun to check out. There's a museum, an art gallery, a tiny restaurant, and one or two other tiny businesses. There's a stream that runs right down the only road in town, and the whole thing is really quite picturesque.

There were tons of great fall wildflowers blooming when we got there, and the kids loved it!

They also really enjoyed throwing rocks in the creek, but then that's always their favorite thing to do no matter where we go.

The cemetery at Mogollon is fascinating, with lots of interesting old graves. Someone has taken the time to document each grave and everything that is known about the people buried there. All the information is in binders in a little building where you can go and look through it all in comfort.

After wandering through the town we got back in the car and drove up the road a little ways into the forest. There are ruins of old building all over the place, and we stopped to poke around some of them. We stopped to snap a picture of the kids, but then that turned into a full on photo-shoot. The kids were having way too much fun picking where to sit and how to pose for the camera.

It really bothered Erik that we had no way to get us all in the picture, so we handed him the camera and let him snap a few of Ethan and I. It's fun to have a kid old enough to do that!

Erik's "cool guy" pose.

Maren didn't really care about all the neat stuff around us. She just wanted to get down and play in the dirt. This girl LOVES to be outside!