Cahokia Mounds

We live very near the Cahokia Mounds (a historic site that has the remains of a large native American civilization).  It was very interesting, particularly in light of Book of Mormon stories that tell about similar civilizations (that meet similar ends).  Interesting.  We checked out the visitors center that has a lot of tools and things that have been excavated and a great video about the mounds.  Then we got to go see the mounds themselves.  We climbed up the largest mound, Monks Mound, which is larger than any of the mound/pyramids in Mexico.  You could get a patch that said I made it to the top of Monk's Mound, but it was nothing compared to the Incline.  :)  Here we are climbing some of the stairs...

 ...and more of the stairs

 

Here are Scott, Matthew and John on top of Monk's Mound.

You can see the arch from there (not in this picture). 

If you look REALLY closely you can see the arch just to the left of those buildings.  

It was a foggy day but we could still see it.
I tried to adjust the photo so you could see the arch better, but not sure it worked. :)

Grant wanted to be carried the whole time. 

He didn't like sand getting in his shoes.

Luckily we had lots of helpers.

We thought it was funny that they had this sign on top of the mounds.  You actually are allowed to climb up on top of them...just as long as you stick to the marked paths and don't try to climb up or down the sides.

 

My little buddy.

Since we've left Oregon Grant has wanted me to hold him A LOT!!

Moving must be hard when you are only two and don't totally know what's going on.

The mound from the ground level again.  It's hard to tell the scale in this picture.

A farther out view of the mound and its lower level.  The base of this mound is as big as the Great Pyramid in Giza...it just doesn't have a top like the pyramids.  Anyway, it was big.  Their were other mounds to see too.  All very impressive.  And it was nice and cool for hiking around.