We are on the last leg of this winter/spring's adventure - we drive to SLC tomorrow for a few days with Grandma Shirley then back to Idaho we go. Right now we are spending a relaxing day in Green River, UT, in a RV park surrounded by ranches and farms - very pastoral and pleasant. We had originally intended to stop in Moab but all RV parks there were full. It was a zoo of people (don't know if there was something special going on or if it's just springtime in Moab) so we were happy to drive right on through and stop at peaceful Green River.

Prior to coming here we spent three nights in Cortez, CO, which was quite enjoyable but very busy. Last Wednesday we hiked around Hovenweep National Monument looking at all the unusual ancient towers and rooms perched on cliff edges and on isolated boulders.

It is the ultimate environmental architecture - the shape and form of the natural foundation determined the shape and form of the structures.

On our way back to the RV park we stopped at a local winery - the Guy Drew Vineyards.

After enjoying the free tasting we bought a couple of bottles of a white blend and a bottle of port. They do make some of the traditional red wines like Merlot but we began to realize how spoiled we have become with the phenomenal red wines made in the Verde Valley.

Last Thursday we visited Mesa Verde National Park which isn't a dog friendly park so with left Abby in the care of one of the managers at our RV park (they offer "pet services" for a fee that includes taking a walk every couple of hours). Abby seemed to love it.

That's Mesa Verde in the background

Whereas at Hovenweep all of the structures were built on the top of cliffs, at Mesa Verde most are built in alcoves in cliff faces.

Note the ladder behind Sharon climbing out of the canyon

Both Mesa Verde and Hovenweep date to the same time period (mostly the 13th century) and were only occupied for a few generations before the whole area was abandoned. It had been a period of very rapid population growth (immigration) related to a period of global warming known to climatologists as the Medieval Warm Period. But by about 1300 the world was crashing into the the Little Ice Age and the mesa tops could no longer support the large populations (especially given the natural resource depletion that occurred during over population). So folks left for lower altitudes and ended up congregating in very large communities along the major rivers (like the pueblos we visited last year in New Mexico in the Rio Grande River drainage).

When we left Mesa Verde and returned to our RV park we found that we had received an email related to the sale of our townhouse. The home inspection was done and they found a few issues that the buyer wants rectified. We considered our response and in the morning before we left Cortez for Green River we crafted a document, signed it (and the official form documenting that we had seen the inspection report), found a fax machine in town and submitted it. So we have five smallish projects to do over the next month before the sale closes on or about May 30. Another reason to get back to Idaho.

We've been incommunicado for the last several days because we didn't have wifi where we camped in Bloomfield, NM. So we have a lot of catching up to do.

In our last post we were still in Flagstaff, AZ, and were preparing to leave for Bloomfield, NM, with an overnight stop in Gallup, NM. While driving from Flagstaff to Gallup we received a phone call from our realtor informing us that we had an offer on our townhouse in Pocatello. Needless to say we were excited about the prospects of selling the place. Our realtor emailed a copy of the offer to us and we printed it out once we arrived in Gallup. We accepted the offer (which is contingent on financing and a positive home inspection, of course) and faxed the signed documents back. So if everything works out we are suppose to close on the sale on or before the end of May.

The night sky in Gallup

We arrived in Bloomfield on Saturday the 20th and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon. While driving into Bloomfield we saw signs for the Salmon Ruins Museum, Library and Research Center. Rick visited the Salmon Ruins in 1974 while they were being excavated by Cynthia Erwin Williams, Ph.D. Dr. Williams was only the third woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in archaeology, and she was well known and respected by even the male chauvinist archaeologists like Dr. Jesse D. Jennings, Rick's mentor. Rick had completely forgotten where the Salmon Ruins were until we spotted the sign along the highway. We thoroughly enjoyed strolling among the excavated and unexcavated parts of the 10th through 13th century "great house" on Sunday afternoon (and there was only one or two other groups there). 

An excavated "kiva" (circular subterranean ceremonial/meeting 

room at Salmon).

Sunday morning we visited Aztec Ruins National Monument a few miles north of our RV park. It was contemporary with the Salmon Ruins and they are less than 10 miles apart. Another great example of the large complex communities that existed in the 9th through 13th centuries in the four corners region of the American Southwest.

One of the main groups of rooms

Rick at the edge of a kiva

Sharon also peering into a kiva

The climate is so dry here that even thousand year old

second-story floor beams have survived

All sites in the region have several small "clan" kivas

like these at Aztec

But only the few most important sites have giant "great kivas" 

like the above as reconstructed from the archaeology. 

Great Kivas are probably where leaders from several 

groups gathered for ceremonial or political meetings

The band of dark stones is an interesting architectural detail 

around the outside perimeter of the "great house" since all

walls were plastered. And just above the dark band

note the ends of the two second-story floor logs.

This is what the "great house" looked like - and there

is an adjacent unexcavated mound that is another ruin

of similar size.

On Monday we drove about 60 miles south of Bloomfield to visit Chaco Culture National Historical Park which contains a dozen or so very large three and four story "great houses" that are contemporary with Aztec and Salmon sites mentioned above.

Walking toward a great house called Chetro Ketl - like

many of the communities they were built near the

bottom of the canyon cliffs

Typical remains of a three-story wall at Chetro Ketl

Chetro Ketl has a "great kiva" so it was obviously

a very important place

Most of the great houses are massive with 600-800 rooms

and three to four stories high

Out away from the large communities is the biggest of the

Great Kivas which probably indicates that this is the

most important place for the entire region (roads lead

from here to places as far away as Salmon and Aztec Ruins

60+ miles to the north)

This morning we left Bloomfield and drove to Cortez, CO. From our RV window we can see Mesa Verde which we will visit in the next day or two to tour the ruins in Mesa Verde National Park. We also plan to visit Hovenweep National Monument to tour some more ruins. After a couple of days here we plan to head for Moab, UT, for a few days then off to SLC. Then back to Pocatello to hopefully complete the sale of our townhouse. We'll keep you posted on our progress.

This morning we visited the Riordan Mansion State Historic Park.

The mansion was built in 1904 by two Riordan (pronounced Rear-don) brothers and their families who developed the local logging industry.

It is actually two homes that are close to mirror images of each other connected by a large billiard and recreation room. The photo above shows one of the houses and the connecting room in the background.

It's a remarkable log, timber and rock structure built by the saw mill workers during the winter of 03-04. Although the main beams are log most of the walls are "log look" siding which was saw mill scrap produced when cutting a round log into square or rectangular lumber and would normally be burned as waste.

A row of stained glass surrounded both homes.

The Riordan brothers were very concerned about waste and although the standard at the time for logging was clear cutting they got involved in the earliest research in sustainable forestry with the newly created US Forest Service (1905). It was an interesting and informative morning.

Yesterday afternoon we took a hike from our trailer to the Elden Pueblo inhabited from about AD 1070 to 1275. A trail to the pueblo connects to the back of the RV park.

Once we got on the trail we discovered a hodgepodge of interconnecting trails that go who knows where. So Rick typed in Elden Pueblo in Google Maps on his Droid cellphone and all we had to do was follow the pointer. After about 1.25 miles we descended upon the back side of the pueblo. It was a cold and blustery afternoon and we were the only ones there.

It's peak population around 1250 was approximately 300 people.

The Forest Service and other groups use it as an educational site where they supervise groups excavating in areas surrounding the main structures (we're not too sure about the ethics of this).

One of our ethical concerns is that archaeologists always place modern markers in the trenches and then refill them. At Elden there are trenches everywhere with collapsing sidewalls which destroys the relative positioning of all items in the dirt and therefore destroys the ability to adequately interpret continuity and change over time if those areas are excavated. Not to mention the accident waiting to happen with kids running around, etc. Some trenches were partially covered with old sheets of plywood or tarps. All in all, very sloppy work, and not the appropriate message to convey to the public - especially in a formal teaching environment. And its disrespectful to Native Americans - this site in a known ancestral Hopi/Zuni pueblo. 

There is pottery scattered everywhere - especially in the piles of dirt removed from the trenches.

After about an hour we hiked back through the Ponderosas to our trailer and realized we hadn't taken a photo of our neighborhood in the RV park. That's Sharon and Abby checking out the tepee accommodations.

We leave Flagstaff tomorrow morning for a one night stopover in Gallup, New Mexico; then off to Bloomfield NM where we will camp for several days to visit Chaco Canyon and Aztec Ruins. We'll keep you posted.

We left our RV spot in Cottonwood on Monday morning and drove an hour and a half to Flagstaff. It was very windy but the winds were from the south helping to push us up the 4000' elevation climb. Since then the wind has been vicious (gusts in excess of 60 mph) and the temperatures have dropped into the 30s and 40s (we are on the southern edge of the big storm system that has been returning winter weather to Utah and Idaho). Because of the wind and cold we spent most of yesterday (Tuesday) inside - primarily at the Museum of Northern Arizona.

They have extensive exhibits on regional ethnography and archaeology, and we already knew most of the information contained in the exhibits. However, it was interesting to see many unbroken examples of the types of pottery that we were observing on the Rio Verde site (mostly Jeddito black-on-yellow bowls).

Plus they have a very nice exhibit of local art and artists. Most of the exhibited art certainly makes Sharon's paintings look talented and professional!

We are camped until Friday morning at the Flagstaff KOA in the tall Ponderosa pines.

Note that the TV antenna is up because all the tall trees completely block our satellite reception. This is a first for us - we have actually never tried to receive an over-the-air TV signal in our trailer before. Not a very good picture or much channel selection compared to our usual high-definition satellite connection but we were able to keep up with the developments about the Boston Marathon bombings (sad, but a reality in our contemporary world).

We decided to stay here in Flagstaff through Thursday (which is when we originally thought we would depart) because there is a historical museum that we want to visit - but it is only open Thursdays through Mondays. It is wonderful to have the flexibility to simply change our schedule on a whim. We'll give you an update if it was worth it or not.

This afternoon the temperatures are supposed to be in the upper 40s and the wind has subsided so we are planning to take a hike on a trail at the back of the RV park. It goes to the nearby Elden Pueblo, another ancient Sinagua ruin that we haven't visited yet. We'll post a few pictures when we return.

We have been relaxing a lot lately and doing the last couple of things that we wanted to get done before leaving Cottonwood this coming Monday. Yesterday we left Abby in the trailer and visited Montezuma Castle National Monument which is about a 30 minute drive from our RV park.

The monument is pet friendly and last year we took Abby with us. But there were so many other people and dogs keeping Abby overly excited that we didn't have much time to soak in the grandeur of the place. So this time without Abby we strolled through the exhibits and ruins at a very leisurely pace and learned a lot about the local vegetation (ethnobotany),

banana yucca used for food and fiber 

and we learned a lot about the archaeology.

the five story cliff dwelling

and a five story building along the cliff base 

One exhibit states that the "official" estimate of the human population in the Verde Valley at the height of all these large sites (i.e., ~ A.D. 1300) was 6000 people. After looking at many of these sites we would have guessed more but we are observing collapsed structures that span several hundred years and were not all occupied at the same time. There was also a map of the Verde Valley in the exhibit showing all the known sites. It shows the site here on the RV park as one of the three or four largest in the entire region.

On our way back from Montezuma Castle we visited the Alcantara Winery which we have not visited before.

Like Caduceus, it is only about eight years old producing their first vintages in 2008. Most of the grapes they use are grown adjacent to the winery on the sandy and rocky slopes along the Verde River.

Very nice wines and a very fun tasting room and patio overlooking one of the vineyards. While we were there a van labeled Verde Valley Wine Tours (from Sadona) pulled up full of people. The wine industry here seems to be flourishing - when we first arrived we signed up for the Verde Valley Wine Trail monthly newsletter (linked here so check it out). After sampling ten Alcantara wines (the Nebbiolo and the Grande Rouge were our favorites) we returned to our trailer to rescue Abby who was sound asleep on our bed - apparently never caring that we were gone for 3.5 hours.

Over the last few days Sharon has her oil paints out and has been painting on our little patio.

One painting just completed is of the Verde River right below our RV spot.

A couple of days ago we returned to the mountain-side copper mining town of Jerome to visit the Jerome State Historical Park.

It is in the mansion built in 1916 by the owner of the Little Daisy Mine and is one of the largest adobe brick buildings ever constructed (and all out of local materials).

We learned a lot about the mining history of the region - Rick remembers well visiting here with Ralph (who was in the copper industry) and Carolyn when he was young. One very interesting bit of trivia that we learned is that the town is named for a wealthy New York investor who, with his cronies, created the first mining company in the Verde Valley back in the mid to late 1800s. His cousin, Jenny Jerome, back in their home country of England was the mother of Sir Winston Churchill.

We leave for Flagstaff this coming Monday. It is a short drive but we have to gain 4000' in elevation so it will take a couple of hours. Since we have been here in Cottonwood for a month and a half all of our stuff is out so it will probably take us most of the day Sunday just stowing everything (plus doing another few loads of laundry). But we are looking forward to getting back on the road - especially now that it is getting hot here in the valley (most days are about 80 or more degrees), and the cotton from the cottonwood trees is starting to blow around. But the desert is blooming right now so it is beautiful.