Dear Maia and Isaac,

Another blog post 3 months after-the-fact. But, worth posting, just the same.

We got up in Farmington, NM – about 3 hours from Montrose over Red Mountain Pass. Did we go that way? No – we took the road west to Shiprock, New Mexico. The Shiprock is an icon of the Southwest and it seemed to make the trip a little better. We got a little lost finding a good photo spot, but mission accomplished.

We got to Cortez, CO and took another long-cut. We went the route to the West of Lizard Head pass (which would have taken 4 hours instead of 3). The new route took 5-6 hours but I like this route.

We picked up lunch somewhere near Dove Creek and took it out to Lowry Ruins for a picnic. I had banana cream pie! The dogs preferred the tacos. I like these ruins – I love the benches that look like Kokopellis. We met some people here who said they were from Montrose. Small world.

We then headed through Disappointment Valley and north to the West End of Montrose County. From there, it was a 2 hour drive home. We took the flat, rural route that reminded me of my days as a county health nurse in the West End. To get home, we drive through two other counties to come back to our own.