Toni's Tribute to All Countries, But Mostly America

One of the more brilliant museums we've been to, the lowly and humble Edge of the Cedars Utah State Park, sits within a neighborhood in Blanding, UT, is housed within a magnificent red-stone building, and hosts the excavated and partially restored ruins of what was once a large Ancestral Puebloan community about 1000 years ago.  The museum is beautifully decorated with replicas of several of the local pictograph panels we've visited... ...houses millions of artifacts including this red macaw feather apron (the macaw feathers having been traded with peoples from Mexico from over 1000 miles away).... ...a hogan to explore... ...and the ruins of Great House with several rooms and entrances which housed more than 80 people. But the best part was the reconstructed kiva (living quarters) which visitors are allowed to climb down into.  Every other kiva site we've ever been to is completely unapproachable.  It was a trip highlight to spend a half hour in this kiva looking at the ...

                                                 Three amazing things: #1 - Sipapu Bridge:  Arches are formed by erosion and are usually found high up on mesas or cliffs.  Natural bridges look similar to arches but differ in that they are formed by rivers cutting underneath the rock and are therefore deep in low canyons.  A fabulous albeit out of the way national monument that I've long wanted to visit was finally explored today at Natural Bridges National Monument just outside of Blanding in southeastern Utah.  We snagged a fabulously gorgeous boondock spot deep in a thick stand of Utah Juniper trees.  Aaron is now 10 weeks post-op and thoroughly sick to death of his boot and the shackle it is.  So today he decided to join me on all of the days hikes.  I am super proud of him;  he covered about 5 miles...all in a stupid boo...

 A couple of years ago, Aaron and I tracked the route of The San Juan Mission expedition, otherwise known as The Hole-in-the-Rock expedition, an unlikely wagon train exploit which included 240 men, women and children leaving their homes in southwestern Utah and cutting a new route to southeastern Utah through some of the most inhospitable land known to man.  This epic journey lasted 6 months through a brutal winter and required miraculous feats of raw courage and fortitude.  Aaron and I had tracked the western route from Escalante to the Colorado River (now Lake Powell), but we'd not yet tracked these intrepid pioneers on the eastern route past the Colorado River to their destination in the town of Bluff.  Well, today we toured that historic town of Bluff which these hearty souls reached in April 1880.  We toured their cemetary, their early cabins and fort, the first masonry homes they built, their cooperative store, and other historic sites in the wee town....