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susan eating watermelon
Mileage 387 miles
Our first stop was right beside our hotel and it was a giant watermelon. Of course we made a picture of it with Susan pretending to eat it since that is her favorite food (not). Green River did have a big river going thru it but there was not much else. There were all of 4 places to eat in town and we wondered how anyone met anyone here given that it is so hard where we currently live.
We then headed out of town and got on the intestate and then on HWY 191 S. We were on this same road 1 week ago when we were headed to Canyon Lands and Arches. We pass by The Hole in the Rock and got into Moab and saw where we stayed the second night. We stopped at a grocery store (closest one we’ve seen to Green River) and bought a few supplies. On the way out of the parking lot we saw “twisted Jeep” rental. We figured that was where they rented the jeep we saw last week when we were in this area.
When we were back on the highway, we saw a sign
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The sisters at 4 corners “Watch for snow plows in your lane” Ok, I’ll look hard. I never saw one. As we drove thru this desolate area we were reminded of John Day (from last year’s trip). This year’s trip hero is Mr. Powell who was the first person to travel the Colorado River. He did this in a wooden boat and only had one arm.
We made a stop at the Blanding visitor’s center and Veteran’s memorial for a quick break then got back on our route. Susan saw a lone dead tree off the side of the road and it truly looked like it had melted. It was bent over in the melted position. We thought we were going to go past Mexican Hat again, but Dorothy said she found us a faster way and proceeded to put us on a road with no lines, no shoulders and a 60 mph speed limit. There were several oil wells on the new route and one of them had the flame beside it burning off the fumes.
Our next stop was a filling station so that Susan could use the bathroom. Pam and Claire declined since well, it didn’t look great and even
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Our shadow picture with CJJ and Minnie had bars on the windows. Susan came back out and said it was wonderful and had tile floors and golden fixtures. Oh well. We then passed by Montezuma’s Creek. We would never drink out of that creek. About this time we entered into Colorado. Shortly after that, we arrived at Four Corners. We paid our $5 a piece to get in and got in line. The line wasn’t too long and we watched to see what others were doing. Our favorite was the lady that did the full split and was touching all 4 states. Our choice of pictures was a shadow picture with Minnie and CJJ in it too. We also got someone else to take a picture of the 3 of us. Also, Claire took a picture of just Minnie in the 4 states. After our pictures we went shopping in 4 states. We started in Colorado and Susan and Claire bought necklaces and Pam bought a bracelet. We then walked to Utah but didn’t find anything of interest. We then strolled into Arizona where Claire saw an artist painting a rock and she asked “how much?”. $20. Susan and Pam also wanted that rock but Claire had
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the flags already staked her claim. We watched him paint and talked with him a bit. He needed to seal it so we told him we would be back and then we walked to New Mexico. Pam almost bought some horse hair pottery here but then decided against it. We also saw some Sony rocks. We asked about those. He told us there were rocks made from an old Sony TV screen. Ha, ha. We trucked back over to Arizona and paid for our paintings (Claire the one he was working on and Susan got one that was already completed). Shopping in 4 states within a 30 minute time frame was a first for us.
After Four Corners, we headed east on HWY 160. We stopped in Cortez since the info on Mesa Verde said we would be driving in the park for 2+ hours; so we filled up the van. Shortly after Cortez, we pass thru an area that stated “overlook ahead”. We wondered what there was to see and after seeing the overlook we were still wondering. There was absolutely nothing there, maybe a cow??? Finally we made it to Mesa Verde. The green mesa was such a contrast
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pit house to what we’ve been seeing this last week. We stopped at the visitor’s center to get maps and information and then headed into the park. At the first pull out, we made our lunch and looked out over the view.
As we travelled thru the park, we made several stops. The first was just an overlook where we could see out over the flat area to the north. Our next stop was the Far View Village. This was one of the pueblo villages. It was built on the top of the mesa and out of stones. It dates from the 800 AD. Our next stop was at a pit house. These predate the pueblos and are partially built into the ground, hence pit house. There were holes dug in the floor for the fire pit and to store food. But what we really wanted to see was the Cliff dwellings. We stopped at several of these and read all about the life of the inhabitants. We learned something new today. We would rather be a pioneer women than a cliff dwelling women. How do you get out of these cliff dwellings? You climb the sheer cliffs via hand and
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pueblo ruins toe holes carved into the cliff. Many of the cliff dwellings did have natural springs inside them but food and other supplies all had to be brought up. Yes, that included all the building supplies. Then we started wondering what the toddlers do up there. “Stay away from the edge” “oh well, we told him not to get to close”. Women seemed to spend most of their time on their knees grinding corn all day. None of us would be up for that. There were 600+ cliff dwelling areas we were told and some of them were grouped in the same area. We only saw about 10 distinct ones.
Today was Memorial Day but with Susan’s crazy 8 route, we avoided the crowds. We were all amazed at the lack of people at the parks we chose this weekend. We know Zion and the Grand Canyon would have been packed. The Crazy 8 route did cause our déjà vu but it was well worth it.
It was starting to get late and we still had a long drive into Farmington, NM so we decided to take off. As we headed out of the park south, the scenery was
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cliff dwelling green and there were trees and grass and water and other vegetation. Why would people want to live in a cliff when there was this area just down the mesa?
The drive to Farmington wasn’t too exciting but we did see the “Now Open” Brewery.
We made it to Farmington and went straight to dinner. We ate at St Clair winery and Bistro. Claire said she liked this place because it had her name in it. Susan stated “there is no E and there is no Saint”. Ha, ha. The dinner was lovely and we headed to the hotel but on the way we saw an AutoZone that was open (everything we passed today has been closed). We pulled in and bought a new wind shield wiper and some more wiper fluid. Our wiper broke the other day and we were afraid it would scratch the window. We’ve been lucky it hasn’t rained. They changed it for us and we finished our trek to the hotel. Tonight’s hotel is the Holiday Inn Express in Farmington, NM and we used IHG points for the room.
We did make up new words to the song “Green Acres”
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route up to one of the dwellings for you titled “Green Mesa”. Please sign the song using our words now.
Green Mesa is the place to be,
Cliff living is the life for me,
Land spreading down so deep and wide
Keep that flat land give me that steep cliff side.
Hot prairie is where I’d rather stay
I’d break my nails climbing all that way
I just adore a dry river view
Keep those cliffs, I want my TP too
Duh, duh, duh, duh ta,
No bears, Duh, duh, duh, duh ta,
No stairs
Duh, duh, duh, duh ta,
The views, Duh, duh, duh, duh ta,
Canoes
You are my wife, good bye TP life
Green Mesa we are there.
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