Sunday Afternoon Orientation

At 2pm today, we were given a very informative orientation from by Interim Director Mary Ann Lundy. She told us some of the history of Ghost Ranch, from Ute camping area to cattle rustler haven to Georgia O'Keefe residence and studio to it's present day home as a Presbyterian center.

After the talk we were taken on a tour of the anthropology and paleontology museum and presented with a brief discussion of the long scientific history of the area. A paleontologist in residence talked about the dinosaurs uncovered in the dinosaur quarry to the southeast of campus. Since the 1940's scientists here have been unearthing large numbers of perfectly preserved bones and fossils including "New Mexico's Official State Dinosaur", Coelophysis.

After lunch, some of us returned to our cabins to read and rest while others took a hike to the top of the mesa near Chimney Rock for a gorgeous vista overlooking Ghost Ranch and far into the distance beyond.