Today is our beautiful daughter-in-law Christine's birthday.
Have a lovely day, dear Christine!
June 30th was our 38th wedding anniversary, and we decided to spend it at Mesa Verde National Park, a place we'd never before been. Located in southwestern Colorado, Mesa Verde was the dwelling place of the ancestral Pueblo people, and the site includes over 600 cliff dwellings. It was fascinating, to say the least. Above: windy me!
From this view, the dwellings look so small, but after we hiked down to that level and were able to observe the ruins up close, we found them to be adequate to house the Pueblo who lived there.
Our guide explained how the Pueblo lived and why they might have eventually abandoned the dwellings.
After leaving Mesa Verde, we drove about an hour east to Durango. We spent some time walking around that very charming town's historic district before heading to the Bar D Chuck Wagon for our anniversary dinner (thanks, handy travel guide, for the great suggestion)! Along with hundreds of others, in a lovely outdoor amphitheater, we enjoyed a scrumptious barbecue dinner, served on tin plates, and drank lemonade from tin cups - chuck wagon style. After dinner, we were treated to a family-style stage show by the Bar D Wranglers. They were so fun! They sang cowboy and western songs from the "olden-days," and we enjoyed every minute of it. Such a fun way to spend our special day together!
To understand this story, you need to know two things: 1. People in Arizona do not change their clocks. Ever. As in, no Daylight Savings Time. 2. We were happily taking this road trip without a penny in our pockets. Just credit cards and debit cards. I know - incredibly idiotic. But nonetheless true (heads hanging in shame). Now for the story: As part of our journey, we very much wanted to see the Four Corners Monument, the only place in the USA where the borders of four states (Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado) come together in one place. We had traveled through Arizona all that day, and were on our way north to spend the night in southwestern Colorado. Four Corners was next on our itinerary. Our information indicated that this landmark was open until 8:00 p.m. And the time in Arizona, as we got ever nearer to the monument, was 6:45 p.m. Plenty of time, right? BUT, we thought in a sudden moment of panic, what if it was really 7:45 p.m., since Four Corners is the meeting point of four states, only one of which isn't on Daylight Savings Time? As it turned out, our suspicion was correct - it was indeed 7:45 p.m., and time was running very, very short, if we were to make it to Four Corners before closing time. Mark drove "like he meant it," and we took the turnoff to the monument with just minutes to spare before the 8:00 closing time. Yay! We were there in time! Finally, we'd see the special place we'd been aiming for all day. Whew! But WAIT! The first thing we spotted as we drove in was the sign on the little kiosk pictured above. Remember point #2 above? That the silly Dorrs don't have a penny to their names? And that it costs $3 per person to see the monument? No credit cards accepted? No personal checks? And this place is in the middle of nowhere, with nary an AMT within 50 miles? NO!!!! We have no money! We are broke! Is all lost??? Are we sunk? But... and here is where it gets interesting... as we drove alongside the kiosk, to the place where the attendant should be stationed to take our money, of which we had none, we found the toll booth was empty and closed up. The guy who had been manning the booth until just a few minutes prior to our arrival had left it for the night and had walked up ahead to close down the place, taking down the flags that flew from various flag poles at the monument. We saw our chance, and drove on ahead, past the kiosk to the parking area. We practically sprinted to the monument itself, took a few pictures, marveled (quickly) at being in four states at the same time, then headed back to our car and down the road to the exit. The same attendant closed and locked the gate behind us as we left. Had we come at any other minute of the day, we could not have seen this interesting place, having no money and all... the place needed to be closing down for the day in order for us to go in without paying. We do owe six dollars to the good people of the Navajo Nation, who manage the monument, for our inability to pay for our brief visit.
Our first stop when we arrived in Cortez, Colorado a few hours later? The ATM. Lesson learned.
Happy Anniversary, Sarah and Chris!
