Wow, I only thought I grew up in the boondocks. Not even close. From Moab, we went south to Blanding, Goosenecks, Mexican Hat, Bluff, the Hovenweep National Monument, and then I was ready to move on to Colorado.
The good: No more problems with campgrounds being full, no more conflicts with tour buses, an abundance of amazing vistas, interesting Indian ruins and petroglyphs practically everywhere.
The incredible: Coming off the Cedar Mesa on the Moki Dugway dropping into the San Juan River valley and Mexican Hat. Maybe the most dramatic stretch of road I've ever seen.
The most fortuitous: In the excellent archeological museum in Blanding, we were just in time to join a program led by author and interviewer Eileen Hallet Stone about how to document your family history by doing oral interviews. Totally fascinating, but too late...if I had learned these things while my parents were living, I might have been able to drag (cajole?) a bit more information out of them. There are some good stories there that I fear have been lost.
The part that made me ready for Colorado: So hot. You've heard about the Anasazi, and the mystery of why they left? It's a mystery to me why it's a mystery...this is a bleak, brutal desert. We pulled into Durango in the middle of a dramatic thunder and lightening storm. A welcome change, frankly. The sun is incredibly intense in Utah and I've gotten accustomed to Seattle's MUCH more filtered sunlight. We'll snuggle in tonight and wait till tomorrow to explore. I'm a little travel weary, so I'm hoping I can convince Husband we need to stay here at least a couple of days.
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