Go West Young Man (17) ....

     We arrived in Farmington, New Mexico without incident but definitively a bit dusty. We had a nice dinner and called it the day, but not till after we had called a couple of churches to see about Mass times for the next day was Sunday. The first one was very helpful and gave us two different masses we could attend and said we would be welcome. The just before we hung up the caller informed us that this particular church was a Pius X Society parish.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_St._Pius_X
http://www.fsspx.org/en/).
      In other words, a parish not in communion with the Latin Church or the Bishop of Rome, a church founded by Archbishop Lefebvre in protest against what he considered the liberal moves of the Vatican II council.
http://www.fsspx.org/en/presentation/our-founder/archbishop-marcel-lefebvre/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Lefebvre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/index.htm
    Since at that time there existed an edict of ex-communication between the Latin Church and the followers of Lefebvre we called the other church listed as Catholic and went to Mass there Sunday morning. The ex-communication was lifted by the late Pope Benedict XIV in an effort to bring the wayward flock back into communion.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05678a.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excommunication

     Then we planned the next few days. Within reasonable distance are some areas of interest; Mesa Verde in Colorado, the Four Corners area - the only place in the US where the borders of four states meet at the same point (in the NW Utah, the SW Arizona, the NE Colorado and the SW New Mexico), not far from Farmington one can also find Shiprock. Up the road a fair bit in Utah is another area of interest; the Anasazi cave dwellings - http://www.americansouthwest.net/ancient-ruins.html
      We decided that since the dwellings at Mesa Verde were so much closer we would limit our visit to those. So on day two in Farmington we set out for Mesa Verde in SW Colorado. The driver there is interesting with a lot of SW landscapes, mesa's and small communities.
      Mesa Verde is a National Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As one approaches there is one tall mesa after the other, and the road goes up and up, way up, way way  up.

A mesa near Mesa Verde National Park in SW Colorado.

The view from the top is absolutely fantastic.

      The view from the top of the mesa is fantastic, one can see for miles. In the picture above we are looking South and Southwest. We can see into New Mexico and into Arizona. Although not visible on this picture, with the naked eye we were able to see Shiprock from this position, and the distance is about 70 miles (112.7 km).
     So what makes Mesa Verde so famous? It is obviously the ancient cave dwellings.
http://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=mesa+verde+national+park&qpvt=mesa+verde+national+park&FORM=VDRE
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=mesa+verde+national+park&qpvt=mesa+verde+national+park&FORM=IGRE
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/27
      Some time the year before we were there, 2006, there had been a series of wild fires, started by lightning, on the mesa and on the slopes leading up to the top, but we were rather surprised by how fast Mother Nature recovers.

Flora recovering from the wild fires the year before.

More flora recovering the hill slopes and top of the Mesa.

     

      Since the top of the Mesa is a bit on the high side, and it is very dry, it is suggested that one takes advantage of whatever shade is available and that one will carry some water and make use of the tram that moves visitors around from site to site. We decided to use the tram when possible which meant waiting at certain stops along the way for the next tram to come along. Although this is not quite politically correct, some of the tram stops reminded me of rural bus stops in certain parts of Mexico, with those stops generally being by the tree that cast the most shade, and when I made a comment to that effect, it only elicited one chuckle from the people waiting with us, some of the others were not amused. There was not much shade to be had under that particular tree.

    

One of the "Mexican" bus stops on top of Mesa Verde.

 

     The dwellings are amazing, and in all fairness to the site, one day is certainly not enough, but that is all we had. When one considers that the people that lived there 700 or so years ago had to climb up and down to farm, to hunt, to gather produce, perhaps to gather water from a well here or there, these dwellings, which in a sense are "apartments" are amazing.

 A close up from an area of the right side of the photo below.

A view into the area of some of the dwellings. 

 The grandeur of it all.

 This photo and the one below can be put together as a panoramic to give some sense of scale..

 See how small the people at the right appear. The site is immense.

 The dwellings  under the overhanging cliff.

I should definitively get more excersize, it is a rough walk down and back up.

Norma saying no more walking today.

 

    After a most informative and interesting day we headed back to Farmington, but not before shooting a couple of pictures of a mesa well into the stage of erosion, a process that takes millions of years.

 The scale of the landscape is simply amazing.

The same mesa.

      Just after passing the mesa in the photos above it became necessary to find a rest stop, and there is absolutely nothing along the road, no gas stations, no rest stops, but off in the distance down a dirt road we saw what appeared to be a small community. Remember, all of this land is in the Navajo Nation. Off we go and sure enough, we found a small park with the doors to the facilities open.

 

    Thus another great day comes to an end. We have learned a lot, we have seen a lot, and by writing this blog we hope to share our experiences with others. Go out West, see this, it is fantastic.