This was the home of the Pecos Pueblo builders, who picked a humdilly of a spot. From the top you could see the whole valley, and one pass to the north narrowed to be only 30 feet wide, allowing them to charge tolls and get a nice little city-state going.
The only problem? It was in the 1300's that things really got rolling for them. So just like the Aztecs and Incas whose empires were formed just before European discovery, they never really had a chance to go big.
They did have a really good spot though, so it took a few centuries before things went south. Today you can tour the ruins (I went on a very thorough Ranger led walk--took about two hours for 1 1/4 miles,) and they have a small museum.
Santa Fe has big museums, including the new New Mexico History Museum, which opened a few months ago. It's very nice, and has all the amenities of a modern museum--artifacts interspersed with interpretive text and paintings, a well thought out flow, and gorgeous theaters.
The Palace of the Governors Museum is somewhat more old school, but that can be nice too, and when I visited they had a photography exhibit and a special exhibit on religious art that were both very good.
Lunch was Nu-Mex at the Plaza Cafe, where they cheated by seating me right in front of the pie case. Boy was that Apple Pie with Caramel on top good though.
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