Life is a Highway

And Then There Was Snow

So the weather system that brought us wind, dust and 77 degrees on Wednesday changed its mind and brought us 33 degrees and snow yesterday. It started while we were in Hesperus – between Cortez and Durango – with another couple staying at Kelly Place. They’ve been looking at property out here to build a sustainable farm, education and retreat center and invited Marie and me along while they looked at a listing in Hesperus. This property is at around 7000 feet and has amazing views of the San Juan and LaPlata mountains. That is, when we could see them. Horizontal snow pellets came in bursts and then it would clear, then repeat itself all over again. The house is insulated with hay bales and has adobe walls and exposed beams – very cool place. We drove back to Cortez for an early dinner and the snow picked up in earnest. There were near-whiteout conditions for awhile as the grass became covered. And then it all cleared again and we made our way back to Kelly Place. I’ve included a couple of photos for those of you who haven’t had your fill of snow this year (this will NOT include our friends from the Maryland/ D.C./Virginia area!).

And the Dust Storm Cometh

Wow, what a change yesterday! While still in the 70’s, the wind came with a roar and brought with it an impressive amount of dust. A good part of southeastern Utah ended up deposited here in southwestern Colorado (and on our bathroom counter and bathtub - we left the window open). Too rough to hike, we set out to do a little shopping and touring. As we approached Cortez, I snapped this photo of the approaching storm and rapidly disappearing Sleeping Ute Mountain.

In Cortez, we visited one of our favorite places, Clay Mesa Art Gallery and Studio. As the name implies, Rick and Lesli St. John started out making beautiful large, decorative wall plates in brilliant colors and southwestern designs.

When I first visited them three years ago, they were just beginning to branch out into bags and weavings. Now their work has switched over entirely to making amazing handbags and framed art in very colorful and original southwestern-inspired designs.

Every year Marie buys a bag for herself, along with several other items to give as gifts. Now Rick and Lesli are branching out to craft shows, beginning with one coming up in Pasadena, CA. Although they’re not producing any more of their beautiful plates, you can check out their remaining inventory on www.claymesa.com until September of this year. Check out their spectacular handbags at www.sanjuanbaggs.com (note the two “g’s”). On the wall in the Clay Mesa studio is a quote from Lyle Lovett: “Look carefully at the art and you will see the artist”. This is certainly true of Rick and Lesli: great people, great products. Give them a look (or just ask Marie to show off her bags).

We ended our day in Durango, CO, checking out two more of our favorite shops: Toh Atin Gallery (Native American and Southwest art) and Earthen Vessels pottery. As always, we could buy out each store but limited ourselves (for now). Durango is a neat mix of college town, outdoor outfitters, and cowboy architecture, which we always enjoy. (No photos in Durango due to the conditions.)  We ended our day by finding a brewpub in town that would feed us and let us watch game 7 of the Stanley Cup (hockey) playoffs between our Washington Capitals and the Montreal Canadiens. That was the good news; the bad news is that the Caps lost and are finished for the season. It was a long, sad drive back to Cortez. But today we can look forward to … 40’s with thunderstorms, wind and maybe snow. YIKES!!! What’s next? A plague of locusts?

The People You Meet

One of the cool things about staying at a place like Kelly Place is the interesting people you meet. Yesterday at breakfast we had two women from Germany, a woman from Switzerland just coming off a vision quest (the same one I did), a couple from Albuquerque, another from near Denver, a man from L.A. and a woman from Florida. The latter two are out here looking at property to build a spiritual center. Needless to say, breakfast conversation is interesting and varied.

We had another day of hiking yesterday, though it was a little frustrating. We had hoped to hike over Cannonball Mesa into Yellowjacket Canyon, which is supposed to be rich with Ancient Puebloan ruins. In fact, we were told that it's known as “Anasazi Alley” by the archaeologists. That may be true, but after 5 bone-jarring miles over dirt and rock “roads” and opening two cattle-guarded gates (one barbed wire) we found ourselves at Cannonball Pueblo, a fairly interesting ruin, but around 500 feet of sheer cliff above Yellowjacket. Turns out there’s no easy way into the canyon; the “easiest” involves driving onto the floor and hiking around 10 miles one way. Oh well!

So instead, we decided to explore the pueblo and hike the top of Cannonball Mesa. We had to get in as much hiking as possible because the weather will be turning on us today. It’ll be mid-70’s again but 60 mph wind gusts are predicted (75 mph in the mountains). It gets even more interesting on Thursday when it won’t get out of the 40’s with rain and snow showers (and more wind). Welcome to the high desert in April! We rounded out our day sitting around a fire on the patio of our cottage. Nice full moon and crackling logs.

Canyons of the Ancients

Very busy day yesterday. We took a 5+ hour hike in Canyons of the Ancients, which is just out the back door of Kelly Place. I wanted to take Marie to see a couple of ruins that I'd visited several years ago. And, of course, I couldn't find them when I needed to. Finally, we came upon the ruin known as George Kelly's tower - Mr. Kelly was the original owner if Kelly Place and discovered and stabilized many of the ruins in and around his property. This tower was likely used for defensive purposes around 700 years ago to see enemies as they approached the pueblo. (If you look closely, you'll see the items that our grandkids sent with us on the trip - we're sending back photos of their toys as they accompany us to various locations.)

Next we found another tower or, more likely, a small residence. I say more likely because of the presence of numerous pottery sherds which shouldn't be present if this was just a sentry post. Archaeologists (and others in the know) know that the middens, or trash piles, of villages and individual dwellings reveal much about the residents and their way of life. These are usually situated downhill from the village, as the inhabitants simply threw their trash, including broken pottery, bones, etc into the pile. If the area was inhabited over several timeframes, as is often the case out here, the layering of the midden can tell a chronological story, as well. We had a great time spotting pottery sherds and tools, making sure to leave them in place so as not to corrupt their provenance.

Finally, I have to include a picture of my favorite plant out here, Mormon Tea. It's a very attractive plant that I'd like to grow at home (don't think it would survive), but the Native Americans would boil it into a tea or grind it into a poultice for medicinal purposes. Early Mormon settlers, who abstained from regular tea and coffee, drank the beverage made from this plant. Hence it's name. It's a form of Ephedra, so it's medicinal benefits are no mystery.

Lazy Day

We took it easy yesterday here at Kelly Place in Cortez, CO. The lead-up to this vacation was more difficult than usual - Marie got sick and had to undergo some tests (which came back negative) and I was very busy with work and had a couple of dental emergencies. I ended up in the dentist chair - perhaps my least favorite place in the world - on my birthday the day before we left. We were excited to get out here and we hit the ground running, but hit the wall today and decided to stick around Kelly Place and read, write and, in Marie's case, paint. This made for a fine day, as the following view of our cottage and the views from our patio indicate.