The Trek to Utah

We had a great adventure getting from Kiowa to Hurricane this weekend. We decided to take 2 days and drive the southern route. We drove through rain, fog, clouds and beautiful country through Publeo, Alamosa, and over Wolf Creek Pass into Pagosa Springs. We had a great Mexican lunch on the banks of the river over looking the hot springs. We watched people sitting in the pools and grottos (in the rain) then running and jumping into the cold river and back to the springs. Next we headed on to Durango. We stopped at a great place in Durango (the Durango Silver Company) and I got to spend time taling with one of the owners, who is a rock hound like me. He had some gorgeous pieces that he and his father had hand crafted. He talked to me about stone cutting, his turquoise mines and other earthy stuff. He even gave me a rough piece of turquoise to practice cutting on. I was in a little bit of "stoner" heaven. I would love to get some one on one learning time with him as I progress through my gem courses.

Next it was on to Cortez. We decided to spend the afternoon at Mesa Verde. That placw is INCREDIBLE! I took pictures until my camera died. It is just unbelievable that people built and lived in the dwellings, how the heck did they do it? And a better question, WHY? It was so fun and interesting, made the trip down the steep winding road late in the eveing worth it.

We spent the night in Cortez, then got up early and headed out through the 4 Corners area, Kayenta, Page, Lake Powell and home. I bought a beautiful pot from some indians selling on the side of the road (yes, I'm a sucker for that stuff), in fact I was disappointed that we didn't see more stuff as we went, but it was Sunday and it was really windy!

We dropped into Hurricane about 2:30 on Sunday, it was a super fun way to celebrate Father's day with my dad. He LOVED Mesa Verde and was so happy to see the country, the sites and to look for wildlife (we saw a ton of wild horses, with a lot of babies). He counted hogans, teepees and mused about how they built Mesa Verde all the way home. It was a fun week with a perfect ending.