Sunday, August 10, 2008

Viva Mesa Verde... or something



We had us a good time this last week. Mom and Dad gave us some PTO (benefits of working at the Snoasis for 11 years). We decided to wander southward. First stop Cortez, CO. It was a cool little town and we had a really good time at Mesa Verde National Park. We checked out the abandoned shacks of the "ancestral Puebloans". Apparently it's no longer politically correct to call them Anasazi (Calling an ancestral Puebloan an Anasazi and dropping garbage out your car window are the only 2 ways to make Native Americans cry). My favorite site was Long House. It reminded me of Machu Pichu with cool terraces where they had planted some green grassy stuff.
One day we hit up Four Corners. It was cool being in 4 states at the same time and it was even cooler having to pay $6 to do so. Is this a "free country" or not? My letter to the president is on its way. Angie went to colorado to check out some indian jewelry and I wandered around New Mexico for a while. We decided that all 4 of the states were really similar.
Next stop: Hovenweep National Monument. This was alot like Mesa Verde, but no cliffs. there were only a few ruins and they were all really close together along this ravine. there were really cool towers and it was after hours so we got the "VIP tour". Translation: I didn't have much respect for the chains and signs warning us to stay on the paths. But it got us some cool pics.
One of our last stops was on the way back outside of Moab. We'd heard there was an Indian petroglyph of a mastadon in the area and after researching and making some calls we got some loose directions. It was pretty cool, and it's cooler when you think that the people that made this drawing lived here 200 - 800 years ago. Think about it. When your brain gets tired and the Archeologists at the local university have laughed you to death try looking in the book of mormon. 

Well that was our trip! Back to the grind.