Resting day again

Not a lot going on here today.  We took the day off after a lot of driving yesterday.  We've still got a lot we want to do here, but we're here for a couple more weeks, so we've got time.

Brad and Budger went for a long walk this morning, but I took that time to just relax.

Brad wanted to smoke some chicken breasts for dinner tonight.  I prepared a marinade for them this morning... Didn't know how that would turn out, because we usually just let the meat soak up the hickory flavor when he smokes, or I'll just do a rub, but this turned out really well!  Nice and moist, and the flavor of the marinade and the hickory both came through.  It was a really big package of chicken breasts, so we've got lots of yummy leftovers!

This is the recipe I started with, but as usual, I was missing a couple of the ingredients, so I improvised on the missing things.

While Brad was sitting outside playing his guitar and tending the smoker, I decided it was a good time to pull the recliners out of their spots and clean under and around them.  We've had occasional spills of coffee or other drinks, and I'll clean what I can see, but when I pulled the chairs out, I found everything that was hidden!  Another reason I love that we got rid of the carpet and put in vinyl flooring... A quick sweep and a shot of the Swiffer mop, and everything was clean again.  I guess after almost a year, it was about time I did that.

We've got more exploring plans for tomorrow.  With no baseball for either of our teams, we may be a little lost!

Go ROYALS!!

Four Corners and Hovenweep National Monument

Today we set out on a road trip to see Four Corners and more pueblo dwellings.  On the way, we passed through the town of Shiprock, named for the giant rock about 10 miles outside of town.

Beautiful!  We are still about 8-10 miles away from it at this point.  It rises 1,583 ft above the surrounding land.  It is a prominent part of Navajo legend, and Navajo people still oversee the area.

We could still see this when we were 50 miles away in Utah!!

We drove on to Four Corners... I have wanted to go here forever!  There's not a lot to do... Everyone takes turns taking pictures, and then there are vendors selling Native American jewelry and pottery and stuff.  Those are some of the booths behind me.  There is a line of them in each state.  I got some cute little turquoise earrings.

I'm in all four states!!

Brad, as is typical of him, didn't want to pose for a picture.  But then when I was browsing the booths, he decided he should have a picture there, so he took a selfie, and I swiped it from his phone.

The seal of each state surrounds the circle.

Then we drove a little farther north, just barely across the Colorado line in Utah, to Hovenweep National Monument.  Hovenweep is a collection of several ancient Pueblo communities.  We visited the Square Tower community, and the Cajon community.

You may have heard the term "Anasazi" to describe the dwellings in the Four Corners area... I know I have!  The term now favored is "ancestral Puebloan" because they are ancestors of the modern-day Puebloans, who still live in the area.

These dwellings were a little different from the other Pueblo dwellings we've seen, as they were all built right on top of a canyon rim, right on hard rock boulders.  How they are still standing there after 700 years, I don't know, but I want to find out the brand of super glue they used!!

The Square Tower community had a nice 2 mile walk around the rim of the canyon, and down through the canyon at one end.  So pretty! 

This is part of the path we were walking on.  It was in the natural stone cliffs, with rocks lining the pathway.

More of the path.

Lizard!

Another!

Beautiful view from the beginning of the canyon

Next we drove about 8 miles back south to the Cajon community.

Did we get lost?

Actually, these pueblo communities are in, or border, Navajo land.

We could get very close to these dwellings, and we actually could have gone in them if we had wanted to... No one is around and watching... The visitors center is 8 miles away... But we were told these buildings are still very sacred to the Native ancestors, and you aren't supposed to go in or touch them, so we didn't.  I was tempted, though.

On the way there, we saw an interesting sight... A dog herding sheep across the road.  We had to stop for a couple of minutes while he made sure everyone got across.

And leaving, we had to slow down for a couple of horses out for a stroll.

A great day overall!