We find
ourselves in Radiator Springs…. Um, I mean Cortez, CO. There are similarities that cannot be
ignored.
- We saw a truck that bore a striking resemblance to Mater at Wal-Mart Tire and Lube (more on why we were there to follow).
- CDoT employees can lay asphalt for dozens of miles in approximately 6 hours. Clearly it was completed a la Lightning McQueen style. Yes, I'm an adult making references to a children's movie! You want to fight about it?
- The town featured numerous buildings in 1950’s neon style and generally exudes a Radiator Springs aura.
After 15 miles of the 2nd most terrifying, white knuckled, 30 MPH
driving, we arrived at the park to begin our tours. Tickets bought (a mere $3 a piece, a deal compared to what the pirates took from us at the entrance of the park) we snagged a quick lunch. We went local and nommed on the Navajo Tacos. We were each handed a Navajo fry bread on top of which was piled a dramatic culinary recreation of the massive mesa on which we stood. I'm not good with the metric system, but I'm estimating that the fry bread was stacked with about half a meter of spicy shredded chicken and various spicy salsas worthy of hazmat labeling.
Fed and armed with our CamelBaks full of water we began yet another 35 minute drive to the first tour. We had assumed that driving along narrow roads skirting drops that caused mini-coronaries at every hair pin turn would be the most harrowing experience of the day, we were wrong. Apparently, the National Parks Service is a bit sadistic when it comes to tourists visiting Mesa Verde. Should you choose to visit Mesa Verde, specifically Balcony House, the least terrifying activity is climbing a steep 45 foot ladder (MADE OF WOOD) to stand precariously within a cliff dwelling of the Anasazi/Ancestral Puebloans. Cliff, yes cliff dear readers. No protective railings, no carabiners, no hand holding keeping us from plummeting approximately 1000 feet from our already 7000 foot perch. Instead the NPS merely says, "hey, watch your footing on these crumbly rocks and try not to fall down, it's a lot of paperwork." That being said, both Balcony House and Cliff Palace (Google Mesa Verde, Cliff Palace is the one you'll see) are amazing. We were in awe of the feats of engineering, the beauty of the mesa itself, and we paid respect to the land that the local Utes still revere as a spiritual place of their ancestors. We could not help but imagine that if we lived in these cliffs one of several things would happen:
A. Spend a night drinking too much fire water and proceed to walk off the cliff.
B. Sleep walk straight out of the dwelling and snooze in blissful ignorance all the way to the canyon floor.
C. Be chased by a rabid chipmunk, plummeting while cursing the tiny rodent.
Climbing around the cliffs, up and down rickety ladders, clambering up footholds carved into rocks, and squeezing through tunnels on hands and knees: It was all worth it, check mark the bucket list item!
Next stop, the four corners; UT, NM, AZ, and CO! Stand in four states at once, you try it, it's not easy. Not having a real idea of what the monument itself would look like, we assumed it would resemble what we are familiar with. Four states intersecting, each one a slightly different color. We were wrong, it looks nothing like on the map. It's brown...dusty, desert, brown... did I mention brown. The four corners is a barren wasteland, but the Navajo turned it into a money maker. They host closet sized shops surrounding a plaque that shows the convergence of the four states. Tourist trap, we were drawn to it like moth to a flame.
Fed and armed with our CamelBaks full of water we began yet another 35 minute drive to the first tour. We had assumed that driving along narrow roads skirting drops that caused mini-coronaries at every hair pin turn would be the most harrowing experience of the day, we were wrong. Apparently, the National Parks Service is a bit sadistic when it comes to tourists visiting Mesa Verde. Should you choose to visit Mesa Verde, specifically Balcony House, the least terrifying activity is climbing a steep 45 foot ladder (MADE OF WOOD) to stand precariously within a cliff dwelling of the Anasazi/Ancestral Puebloans. Cliff, yes cliff dear readers. No protective railings, no carabiners, no hand holding keeping us from plummeting approximately 1000 feet from our already 7000 foot perch. Instead the NPS merely says, "hey, watch your footing on these crumbly rocks and try not to fall down, it's a lot of paperwork." That being said, both Balcony House and Cliff Palace (Google Mesa Verde, Cliff Palace is the one you'll see) are amazing. We were in awe of the feats of engineering, the beauty of the mesa itself, and we paid respect to the land that the local Utes still revere as a spiritual place of their ancestors. We could not help but imagine that if we lived in these cliffs one of several things would happen: 
B. Sleep walk straight out of the dwelling and snooze in blissful ignorance all the way to the canyon floor.
C. Be chased by a rabid chipmunk, plummeting while cursing the tiny rodent.
Climbing around the cliffs, up and down rickety ladders, clambering up footholds carved into rocks, and squeezing through tunnels on hands and knees: It was all worth it, check mark the bucket list item!
Next stop, the four corners; UT, NM, AZ, and CO! Stand in four states at once, you try it, it's not easy. Not having a real idea of what the monument itself would look like, we assumed it would resemble what we are familiar with. Four states intersecting, each one a slightly different color. We were wrong, it looks nothing like on the map. It's brown...dusty, desert, brown... did I mention brown. The four corners is a barren wasteland, but the Navajo turned it into a money maker. They host closet sized shops surrounding a plaque that shows the convergence of the four states. Tourist trap, we were drawn to it like moth to a flame. 
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