Catch up 28-29 December

Wow...time flies when you're having fun!

Today was day (2) up on the mountain at the Nordic ski center at Purgatory (http://www.durangonordic.org/NordicCenter.html). Yesterday Earl and Muriel took out trail passes and slapped on our 20+ year old XC Ski gear and headed out for a couple hours while I hung out in the center next the the wood burner and added inches to Muriel's Dr Who Scarf and listed to the Four Corners public radio playing old and new bluegrass and folk music.

Upon their return, exhausted and hungry for a treat, we proceeded onto the next half of our days adventure....visit the four corners site :-)

This had it's own unexpected surprises as we opted for an alternate path on our return trip to Durango.

We followed US 160 out from the Four Corners Monument, the official name of this section of 160 is the Trail of Ancients and wends along a lunar landscape that you catch glimpses of these shallow canyons that almost come up to the road but if you were too busy looking to the horizon you would almost never see.

This is the country of Tony Hillerman's Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, and home of the Anasazi. You can see occasional caves in the canyons and petroglyphs, the beauty is stunning.

Heading north on the Trail of Ancients we opted to follow the signs to Hovenweep national monument instead of retracing our steps back to Cortez where we had seen another posting leading to the same monument....figured we could loop around.... And maybe find some Aztec gold (kidding, but I did hear it uttered in a Captain Barbosa-esque voice while driving).

This route took us north and west into Utah and the Ute Reservation on Indian 256 and then back to Cortez on County Road G. All the while able to keep sight of Sleeping Ute Mountain which rises up just south of Cortez. (Earl and Muriel took many pictures which I will add when back at a computer to this blog, however they should be in their photo albums -see page/tabs at top of home page)... Would be an amazing place to ride a bike through and see more at a more appropriate pace to appreciate the landscape.