Preparations

Holiday Road

Finally, the last of our holiday photos!


We visited the Anasazi Heritage Center; it's a quality museum with a great collection and lots of hands-on activities.  The pottery they've recovered and pieced back together is incredible and very beautiful.












Great photos:















A birthday gift:



The road opens up.  Somewhere in New Mexico:









Texas. We got off with a warning:

Cortez

My aunt and uncle live in Cortez, but it takes 15 minutes to drive into town from their ranch.  We spent a little time in town, but it's so small, it didn't take long to walk up and down Main Street.  Our first stop was Notah-Dineh Trading Co.  It was recommended by Pati & David.  I really wanted to look at Navajo rugs and Zuni fetishes.  I've never been to a trading company, so I've nothing to compare it to, but it was interesting -- lots of things to look at including turquoise, Pendleton throws and saddle blankets, rugs, pottery, and baskets.  They also have a small museum in the basement.





They have on display some amazing Navajo rugs:






The significance of this one is that it's the largest Two Gray Hills rug known.   TGH means there were no dyes used.  Those are the colors of the sheep's wool:
 


Old trading post display:



Turquoise.  If you are into this sort of thing, the area is flooded with Chinese turquoise and not local, so if you are in the market, it's good to know your vendor:






Yep


If you would like a good root beer, try Main St. Brewery in Cortez.  They brew one with honey, which really comes through.  I brought a growler of it home to share w KMHD & Brittany, my potential root beer brewing partners.  We really need to crack it, ladies!  It's probably already flat.

Mesa Verde

We spent two days and one night in Mesa Verde National Park.  It's a fascinating place and has completely renewed  my interest in Ancient Puebloan peoples.  

Kiva:

A lot of the structure itself is original, but has been made stabilized, which means there's been some rebuilding, so I couldn't guess how much of it authentic, but these wooden beams are original:

I spotted this piece of pottery at Cliff Palace.  You can't take it with you:

Another kiva:

Original art (for lack of a better word):

The view from our room at Far View Lodge.  That'd be New Mexico in the distance.  If you turned your head over your left shoulder , you could see Utah:

Cute little chipmunk.  Photograph taken through binoculars.

We saw a lot of deer, some elk, and chipmunks.  At one point, whilst hiking, we heard a deep growl.  Then we smelled feline spray.  Now, I 'm not saying it was a mountain lion, but I'm not ruling it out.  It was a little off-putting because it was early and we were the only ones on the trail.  Thankfully, nothing came of it.  Hesitant tracks:

Soda Canyon:

Unmarked cliff dwellings:

Soda Canyon:

Charlie Brown Xmas tree:

I think that next time we go to Mesa Verde, I'd like to do some tent camping there, so we can be immersed in and surrounded by the wilderness.  The lodge has a great restaurant called the Metate Room -- I'd skip the breakfast, because it's not very good, but their dinners are incredible.  Our table was next to a celebrity's, but we don't even know who he was.  Anyway, it was one of the better meals we had while we were in Colorado.  A tip: you can find pottery bits everywhere in the Coyote Village.

Durango

We spent an afternoon in Durango, CO with my Aunt Marcie and her brood.  Durango is cute.  Slightly patchouli-scented, liberal, and very friendly.  We consumed good food and great beer from local breweries, specifically Steamworks Brewing Co.'s Lizard Head Red and Ska Brewing Co.'s Pinstripe Red Ale.  Durango's high ratio of local breweries is enviable.  I loaded up on a few cases of beer from Ska Brewing Co. to share with my lady friends @ my upcoming birthday party. 

Here's Max embellished with a bindi:

And here's his brother Sieger, also wearing a bindi:

Thelonious, the head-butting sweetheart:

The other kitties, Seymour and Laila, were too shy for photographs.  

It is my preference to have animals in proximity when we travel and visit family or are away from home.  It's very comforting.  I have some relations that do not have pets and I will never understand it.  I think they are weird.

Aunt Marcie & ATM:

When I was in junior high, I thought that I'd either go to Cornell University (I really thought so!) or Fort Lewis College in Durango, none of which panned out.  I LOVED Durango as a teenager.  I still have an affection for that little hippie town.  I'm already aching to return to the southwest corner of Colorado!  I'm hoping to actually live there for a while one day.