Tom and I have been really busy on the weekends recently. I work really hard at school during the week – staying late lots – but weekends are for traveling. I’ll start with our snowfall yesterday morning. Charlie took these lovely photos. Some snow is still here – Gallup schools started late today. I have these huge floor to ceiling windows in my library and had lovely winter views all day.

It was already beginning to melt when we woke up.

The second weekend in October we drove to Durango-Silverton steam train, which has been in continuous operation for 125 years. The scenery was fantastic and some of the curves were a bit nerve racking. We only had about two hours in Silverton – we should’ve taken the bus back – but Tom loves those trains.

Grumpy guys at Grumpys!

That is my old Size 5 coat - I look huge!

Scenes like this were at every turn.

We enjoyed eating and shopping – I bought a lovely Navajo pot that reminded me of a vase of my grandmothers. Mother said she always put Nasturtiams in it.

We stayed at a really old timey place that night in Durango – Charlie slept in the loft. Very comfy beds. It was one of those places that was probably pretty popular in the 60’s and 70’s before all the chains moved in.

Look behind us to see the huge - infinite valley just before we got to Mesa Verde.

The next morning we drove over to Mesa Verde National Park. On the way, driving through Colorado – we saw some of the prettiest and happiest cattle I have ever seen. The fields were so green and the cattle were black as could be and spread all over those huge fields. They just looked happy.

Tom at the ruins we visited.

I did not go below - but of course Tom did.

That's old Ann after she climbed back up from the ruins - it was quite a climb, but I did it.

Charlie crawling down to the ruins.

That's Charlie in the middle front.

The drive up the mesa to Mesa Verde was breathtaking. I swear we could see for a thousand miles – huge plains that just went on forever. We kept going up and up and up. The weather was clear and beautiful. We finally got to the top. Tom and I walked down to some ruins we could get to pretty easily. Charlie took the two tours where one has to tread rocks down, through, around, up, and actually climb ladders to get in and out. I never in my life though I would be able to see these cliff dwellings. It is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a child …and there we were. To know how old these places were and how hard life was for the people who lived there was a really odd feeling.

Last week I had my first family reading night at school – so I was really nervous and planning for that all week. We had over 70 people and it went great. I had made a scavenger hunt to learn about all the different activities and areas of the library. The parents seemed to have a wonderful time. So last weekend I was really relieved for the week to be over with. We were going to stay home and relax – but then we figured we could easily get to Monument Valley and back in two days. So I called up and made reservations at Guilding’s? Lodge – what a smart move!  The next morning we had to deliver Roxy to the kennel and then stop by Wal mart. We can’t go anywhere without stopping by WalMart first. Charlie was really impressed with Window Rock and the other scenery we had on the way there.  We got there after lunch and were just so surprised and pleased. This motel was really special and was backed up to a huge rock – I mean huge – I was a little nervous it might fall forward.

The motel is over to the right.

We could see Monument Valley from our room. We took a much needed nap and then headed out for the 17 mile loop though the valley. We were not disappointed. The road was rough and ready and we got some fabulous views. Now the reason Tom wanted to go to Monument Valley was because his favorite human being, John Wayne, made some movies there: Stagecoach, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and, my favorite John Wayne movie, The Searchers. So we were able to see some of the same scenery from the movie.

These horses were roaming free at the turn in to the Valley.

Nice photo. There were several folks with tripod and big cameras trying to capture the colors - it was almost dusk.

This was John Wayne's cabin or something in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.

Charlie and Tom went to the motel theater to see Stagecoach that evening – I worked on school stuff. The next morning we ate breakfast at the restaurant, went to see John Wayne’s cabin (actually a set used in one of his movies there), and visited the gift shop where I bought two pots. We debated about whether we would drive home – or if we wanted to drive north a bit. North won out.

We headed towards Mexican Hat  - but looking back we saw absolutely beautiful far off views of Monument Valley. We had to stop like ten times before we got to Mexican Hat. We saw a gravel pile so huge it looked like a lake. Mexican Hat is called Mexican Hat because it has a rock formation shaped like a Mexican hat!

We decided to go be further North to Gooseneck Park – where the San Juan River has eroded some rock and looks more like a snake than a gooseneck. It was special – there was nothing there hardly to keep one from falling over and down – I was a little nervous because the wind was blowing and I just knew one of us would blow over the side. We didn’t.

We decided to keep heading north and intersect with 191 before we headed south. About a couple of miles north of Gooseneck Park, we came to Valley of the Gods – a mini Monument Valley. It was okay but the best was about to come. We could see a huge mesa in front of us – but we could not tell where the road was going. Ended up – it went pretty much up the side of the mesa – switchbacking all the way, skinny gravel road, straight up and straight down on the side. How exciting! I held my breath the whole way, thankful that Charlie was in front and Tom could not see me gripping the seat.

 At the top there was a dirt road off to the side and it led to a point. Eager for another great view we took if and drove several miles to the end. Oh my gosh! It was the highlight of the weekend! We ended up at Glen Canyon – there were huge rocks everywhere and we all started climbing on them – the views got better and better. I felt like we were at the Grand Canyon. There were only two other people there  - just sitting there looking at the view. It really was fantastic. I’m so glad we kept going.

I love this photo of Charlie - it can't possibly show how grand this place was.

This is my pot I got at Four Corners.

I got this one at Monument Valley. These are Navajo horsehair pots.

We ended up going to Blanding Utah, then catching 191 south from there. It was dark when we got home. It was a wonderful weekend.