Four states in one day

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I'll be filling in Monday through Friday in the coming days, but for now, we're on the road again.

The day started out in Page, AZ where we crashed yesterday around 6 pm and slept for 10 hours. We could see Lake Powell and its bathtub ring from the motel, but we didn't get any closer to it this time. Our first order of business was calling AAA to have someone come and fetch the keys from the car... don't ask.

Once on the road, we took AZ 98 south and then got on US 160 east. This took us through Kayenta and on to the Four Corners where we got to stand in the states of AZ, UT, CO, and NM all at the same time.

Continued on into Colorado where we could view the Sleeping Ute Mountain to the west and Shiprock in NM to the east. The landscape begins to change as US160 turns more easterly again.

East of Cortez, CO, we came upon Mesa Verde National Park and, on a whim, decided to check it out since we now have our newly purchased annual NP pass. It turned out to be more than we could do justice to in one visit.

We did take the Cliff Palace tour and stopped at several overlooks where we saw other cliff dwellings. The scenery itself is beautiful as you wind your way up into the park. However, there have been a number of serious fires here in the last few years that have decimated the trees in many areas. The fires can endanger the dwellings when they have heated the rock above them which contains water, but they have also uncovered new sites.

I was surprised to learn that this is the centennial of the declaration of Mesa Verde as a National Park. It's a place we plan to visit again.

Tonight we're in Durango... very touristy from our quick trip through it.

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Photos

Shiprock from Mesa Verde
Apparently, Shiprock used to be clearly visible from Mesa Verde. Today seemed to be relatively clear, but you can barely see Shiprock.

Baby Great Horned Owl
The ranger said that a pair of Great Horned Owls have nested here for at least the last two years. He also said that ravens have attempted to chase them away or grab the nestlings, but I thought owls would be predators of ravens.