Mini-moon: March Madness

Our March mini-moon consisted of heading north - to Cortez, Colorado. Cortez is located in the corner of southwest Colorado, in the "Four Corners" area. What drew us to Cortez in mid-March? Dan was invited to judge the cattle show and youth livestock judging contest at the 'Four States Ag Expo.' Dan invited me to come along, since it was the end of Arizona's spring break.

I spent the beginning of spring break in Iowa (which was wonderful; busy; and too short). Dan had been with his judging team in Houston for a week. He got back to Tucson on Tuesday night; I came back on Wednesday night; we left for Cortez on Thursday afternoon.

Our route there took us through Flagstaff and then through northeastern Arizona....the Grand Canyon to our left and through the Navajo reservation. My first introduction to Arizona came in 1982, when my aunt Barbara moved to Arizona to serve as a nurse in the Navajo reservation. When my brother was born in 1983, she came to stay with us and brought with her a 'Tuba City' shirt for me. It was royal blue, with golden yellow ribbing around the neck and short sleeves. It had a rainbow-line across the chest and the words 'Tuba City.' I LOVED that shirt! ...so, the place of 'Tuba City' has always held a fascination for me (no matter how many people here tell me it's not anywhere near impressive).
Unfortunately, our drive through this new area of Arizona was in the dark. (and our drive home was through a different route - more on that later)

When we arrived in Cortez, I had no idea what there was to do. I don't tend to do a lot of research before going places. So, over my breakfast, I perused the brochures in the lobby. I was delighted to find out that Cortez was once home to the Ancient Puebloan people and not more than ten miles from our hotel were some of their pueblos in Mesa Verde. In 5th grade, I did a report, which included making a diarama, on the Pueblo Indians. Since then, I have had a fascination and respect for them - and have always wanted to visit the ancient pueblos. Needless to say, I was BEYOND excited!

On Saturday, we went to Mesa Verde National Park. In early spring, there is only one area of the ancient pueblos that are open to the public (where you can actually walk onto the area/around the pueblos). It was a beautiful drive. Upon our arrival at this area, I got out the camera and started taking pictures. We hadn't even made it to the up-close-and-personal area of the pueblo and the camera battery died. ...and our phones were in the car. Whomp-whomp.

After leaving Mesa Verde, we headed to Guy Drew Winery. The wine was excellent! AND reasonably priced. The tasting room was just the kitchen of Guy Drew and his wife - creating a very relaxed and comfortable tasting. (Their house was beautiful - and very southwest.) We had a great time talking with "Mrs. Drew" (we never got her name; maybe it was Nancy...). She even had an Iowa connection - and went to college at Cornell! (If you are ever in the 4 corners area - we highly recommend that you stop in for a tasting. You won't regret it!)

Can you see the 'Mesa'?

Showing off my short hair...
While it looks cold, it was a nice 60+ degrees at the time.

Cliff Palace!!!!

Can you tell why it's called Mesa Verde? (Green Table)
During much of the time that the Ancient Puebloans lived here, they lived on the top of the mesa. During their last 100 years there, they started building the pueblo houses/villages in the cliffs.

Look like just a cliff to you? If you had an amazing magnifying scope, you could see that there are actually 2-3 cliff dwellings present.
SO COOL, people!!

After making the loop, we headed up to the highest part of Mesa Verde. Can you see the weather start to change? Not quite so sunny anymore....

Lots of snow! That was fun to see again....

The distant mountain 'range' is called 'The Sleeping Ute.' The highest peak you can see is his elbow, then his torso, things, knees, and you can barely see his 'toes' peaking' up at the far left. It really did look like a sleeping Ute. It's believed that one of the warrior gods was injured and fell here; someday, the Utes hope that he will rise again to defend and protect his people.

Dan does his thing at the cattle show on Sunday. It was FREEZING! (literally) Preciptation started falling as rain, then sleet, then snow...which was cool at first since I hadn't yet seen snow fall this year. Until we heard that northern Arizona had a major snowstorm dumping 14-22" of snow....

Many, mini-moons ago

In January, Dan and I decided that since our honeymoon was more of a honey-ride...and that we are living in a new, exotic land...we should explore this land that we now live in by doing/seeing (at least) one new thing each month...and that we should take some "mini-moons" (mini-honeymoons). When we can, we try to combine our mini-moon with our southwest-exploration.

So, in January, we headed up to Sedona for the weekend. Sedona is located about 3 hours north of Tucson; an hour north of Phoenix and about an hour south of Flagstaff. Sedona is famous for its red rocks, is located in part of the Coconino National Forest, and its vortexes. Hikers come here; spiritualists come here; 'regular' tourists come here.

I had purchased a Groupon for a one-night stay at a hotel that came with a wine-tasting voucher. The hotel was nice; the wine tasting was not.

It just so happened that there were 3 wineries located within a half-mile of each other. We went to the one that was part of the voucher. The wines were bad and overpriced. We went to the second (within walking distance). The wines were just as bad and even MORE overpriced. I was disappointed. I thought that surely there would be one good wine.... Not even the bottle of $45 "beautiful" wine (described by our host) was bearable. I describe this Sedona-area wine was "the wine that was offered to Jesus when he was dying on the cross - and he refused."

We decided to head back to the hotel, and then came upon the third winery - Page Springs. The grounds were beautiful. The tasting room is in an old barn that's been renovated to house several areas - an area to lounge - listen to live music, eat and drink, an area for tasting, and a large porch. Their wine was actually drinkable - mainly because they combine their grapes with grapes from California.

The wine was very acidic, had an undesirable aroma (no fruit, oak, cocoa, vanilla or anything else they usually say you can smell), and was almost on the verge of vinegar. We think that the wine was bad because of the growing conditions of the grapes - poor soil and too much sunshine.  [We have no idea if this is the cause; it is only a hypothesis.]

The landscape was absolutely breath-taking. What is so amazing about Arizona is the diversity in the landscape. As you will see from the pictures, the red rocks cause everything green to 'pop.' (because they are opposites on the color wheel - shout-out to Mrs. Leonard, my art teacher!) We went to the Chapel of the Cross, where we were able to hike for a while.

The weather wasn't great while we were there, so we didn't spend any time (seriously) hiking. It was overcast, rainy and in the low 50s. There was snow on the mountains surrounding Sedona, but we only got to see it from afar. The next time we go, we will definitely spend some time hiking.

We ate dinner at a great restaurant. The food was excellent and ambiance was incredible. I had read a review on TripAdvisor; it was near our hotel - so we went. It was in a strip mall, so it'd easy to write off as "lame." I am so glad we didn't! We both had delicious pasta and enjoyed the live music provided by a blues guitarist. He was incredible. It was very fun.

The next morning, we ate dinner at 'The Coffee Pot,' a restaurant famous for its 101 omelet combinations. It was worth the hype. We spent some time checking out art galleries and shops in Sedona. We found an artisan olive-oil and vinaigrette shop that was incredible. I think there were 25-30 flavors of oil and vinegar. If they weren't $15 a bottle, I would have bought more than just the safe garlic olive oil...which lasted about 2 months in our house.

And now - for the pictures! (There are none from the winery, dinner, breakfast, etc. because our batteries died while at our first 'attraction' - hiking at the Chapel of the Cross.)