First Two Days!
This blog details some of the adventures I had on the 2011 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) summer seminar entitled "Bridging Cultures: Unity and Diversity in the Pueblo World".
After flying from Norfolk, Virginia to Detroit to Denver, Colorado I boarded a tiny 12-seater airplane for the flight to Cortez. The flight was a little rough going over the mountains but - oh what a view! When we went into our descent I had a very clear view, because, after all, I could see out the front windshield. Anyway I was looking out the window, in awe at the mesas, when I see a teeny tiny airstrip. "Awe, that's cute," I thought, "What a nice private airfield someone has there..." and then we circled...closer and closer, and guess what! That little tiny airstrip was the Cortez airport. Fantastic! I stood next to the plane while they unloaded my luggage...we had the biggest plane at the airport.
Well, Cortez is about what you'd imagine with an airport like that, but it is quaint, the epitome of the west -- two mile long main strip of town and mountains in all four directions! I enjoyed the explorations I did the first night with my new friends and fellow NEH scholars. While we were walking, I marveled at the sky...it is gorgeous. In Virginia, your view is hedged in by the trees. Here, you can literally see 25-50 miles in any direction. The sage, juniper and pinyon are low; they dot the landscape with clumps of fragrant green. It's like an ever changing painting -- color EVERYWHERE against the mesa backdrop --- the sunlight on the mountains fades in and out, white clouds form against the bluest sky -- brown, tan, and pink sandstone exposed cliffs -- it really does remind me of God's infinite imagination. To top it off, we saw a double rainbow (insert reference to viral youtube video here).
On Sunday morning, I decided to walk to Walmart (because there is always a Wally World close by) where I bought provisions for the rest of the day (mostly water because, DUDE, the elevation is quite a change and it is seriously dry heat -- but I find myself liking the dry heat—it’s refreshing as compared to the 100% humidity at home).
The Crow Canyon Archaeological center is amazing! We moved into our Hogan (pronounced ho-gon) and it’s pretty much civilized camping in a wooden cabin with electricity but no air conditioning. The bathrooms/shower house is down at the bottom of the hill from the hogans. I have one roommate -- Tamara is from Texas-- who teaches high school social studies as well.
We had a reception about 5…it was great because we finally met everyone, ate dinner, and a group of us went on a short hike around the campus—saw some great animals. Mule deer are everywhere, jack rabbits jumping across the path, and I took solace in the fact that I think the mountain lions will go after that game first before humans (I can hope so). We sat around a pretend campfire—can’t have a real one because the fire hazards are high. Excited about the next week - we have a lot of activities planned -- visiting Mesa Verde, digging at an archaeological site, working in the lab and so much more!
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