A step into the past

We headed north yesterday on our family adventure of the week. We went to Las Golindrinas, a living history museum dedicated to reconstructing what life was like during the Spanish Colonial period in NM. It's like the Jamestown of the Southwest.

I had been to Las Golindrinas back in my teaching days but that's, ummm, been awhile. The draw for our kids was the promise of seeing how American Girl Josefina lived. The book's illustrations actually come from the ranch, which has buildings on it dating back to 1710.

Among the many activities we saw and tried was wool cleaning, known as carding. Madelyn and Catherine gave it a whirl...

Seth takes a peek at the source of the wool that sister's just carded...
Madelyn takes a Colonial timeout...
This is the kitchen pictured in the Josefina book. We like the cradle (foreground) suspended by ropes that looped the vigas on the ceiling.
Time for school! We took up all but three desks.
Our family picture du jour...
The morada...it's not a church but does have religious significance for a group of Catholic laymen. I know that is vague but I can't remember their exact name and without it the details seem moot.
Our final stop before heading to our picnic lunch was the mill. Unfortunately, it was not running but the flours it grinds were out to touch. Fun!