We wanted to take a drive into Mesa Verde

 But we didn’t want to leave Henry alone. No problem.  Bernie and Shawn just adopted him as Office Dog for the day.  Judy and I got to go into the park and didn’t have to worry about Henry; he got to run the park while we were gone. Here we are with Big Bernie and Peggy, Bernie and Shawn’s parents.  The whole family runs the park. We end every evening with a campfire.   Seems like a place we’d never leave, but we mean to move on tomorrow.  Headed south and west.  It’s looking so hot in Phoenix though, we might lay-up in Flagstaff for a few days and see if it cools down at all in Southern Arizona before we go any farther south. 

We’re enjoying the pace of this trip

 We’re headed south for Arizona.  We stopped in Cortez for a night.  Now its three days later and we haven’t picked a date to leave.  The weather is perfect; a dry eighty degrees.  Cool nights. We’re entertained by a western tanager. And a face in the forest.    

Cortez KOA

 2016 Summer Trip Map We used to stay here every year when we traveled the state working with clients.  We got to be friends with Shawn and Bernie, brothers who run the park, and their parents, and the staff.  We don’t pass this way as often as we used to, but we saw our chance on the way south this trip and went for it. It’s like coming home.    With a view of the Sleeping Ute. 

Eared Grebes

 While they’re whiling away the winter in way-south Texas, they look like this.Maybe a little plain. It’s nice to see them up north in Colorado in breeding plumage when they look like this.  

Devil’s Kitchen Trail

 It started off gentle enough. Then it got steeper. The last part was a scramble up a hillside, but we made it. This is what the Devil’s Kitchen rock formation looks like. The little dots in the shadow in the middle are people. This is what it looks like looking back down the way we came. Then we took a wildflower walk.    Then we went back up to the rim to watch the white-throated swifts.  They’re so fast, it’s pretty hard to catch one in flight, but I got a few clicks.