These 2 parks are located right against each other in Northern Arizona. Sunset Crater National Monument is the remnants of an ancient volcano. The kids and I did a few hikes through the park. They, of course, felt like experts since they had already been to Craters of the Moon in Idaho. They were; however, pretty excited to see such great examples of spatter cones up close on one of the hikes
Wupatki National Monument is a collection of pueblos that are pretty impressive to see. 6 of these pueblos are open to the public for touring. The largest had over 100 rooms, a community room and a ball court.
Here’s a fascinating tidbit for you – in the 1930’s, the National Park Service stationed a husband and wife Park Ranger team at Wupatki and had them live in a few rooms of the pueblo. Obviously, no electricity, they cooked with propane and had to haul water from a spring nearby, but don’t worry, the Park Service still made them pay rent of $10/month. The fact that the Park Service had people living in the pueblo just blew me away.
