April 29, 2017
After getting hardly any sleep from the nightmarish 25 degree freezing cold night in the tent, we woke up around 8am and got a super late start. We climbed out of our tent into the much needed sunlight to find that we were surrounded by Mule Deer!
Mule deer are named for their GIANT MULE-SIZED EARS that can move independently of one another. Mule deer can run up to 45mph and they use their hooves to dig for seep water within the arid biome for which they are adapted to.
After loving on some dumbo-eared deer, Dustin and I took off for the Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings
Prettt cool stuff! They were huge! This "Cliff Palace" belonged to the ancient Anasazi people. The Anasazi lived from 100 B.C to 1300 A.D. Sometime before the 1300s, a 26 year drought began and the Anasazi were like, hey... we need water to live, yo! And so they abandoned the dwellings. Then almost 500 years later some cowboys found the ruins and they were like SWEET and then they plundered the whole thing and left most of it destroyed. Then the National Park System restored the dwellings to what you see in the above picture!
On our way out of Cortez, we saw a herd of cows being moved down the street by about 10 people on horse-back. It was bittersweet to see them. Knowing that they are kept alive to be turned into our convenience food is a real heart-breaker, yknow? I have been trying to be suspicious of convenience in my life. I think that convenience leads us down the path of gluttony and laziness. People and beasts are also hurt for our very own convenience. In this day and age and in America especially, there are precious lives who suffer and live in misery for things to be convenient for us. Clothes, food, products. How could we have let this happen and what can we do to make changes?
On a happier note, I nearly exploded when I saw THIS SCOTTISH HIGHLAND COW!!!!(also known as a Hairy Coo".) When I saw her I squealed and pulled the car over to a screeching halt. Dustin is used to this routine by now, so he instinctually reached for the camera and snapped a pic. SO SWEET!!! My second favorite type of cow! Just look at it.
But Yoshi is hungry!
As Dustin and I made our way to the Great Sand Dune National Park of Colorado, we drove up into the mountains. We ended up in the middle of a little snow storm! The ground was covered in half a foot of snow. We promptly pulled the car over in the San Juan national forest and played in the fluffy white snow!
We had SO much fun. It was great! After we played in the snow for a good hour, we continued on.
After coming down from the mountains, the terrain vastly changed. We entered arid farmland. Once again, countless ranches and meateries on the side of the road. Much of the beautiful landscape we saw belonged to the beef industry. What a waste of gorgeous land! We felt a lot of sorrow in our hearts to see the great American Bison in a fenced in area of barely a quarter acre. Sorrow is actually sugar-coating it, friends. We were pretty depressed. In 2016 Bison were (finally) deemed our national mammal. But unlike the world-famous bald-eagle, our national mammal's population is near threatened and is only considered stable now due to ranches like this that harvest their meat and milk.
It is a criminal offense to touch a bald eagle, or any of its property. In fact, a man was threatened with the death penalty in Texas for having been caught eating a bald eagle.
So, then.. what of the Bison? Our national mammal used to roam this entire country in herds of 30-60 million and remarkably outlasted wooly mammoths and saber tooth tigers. They are North America's largest mammal and are a part of our history. So what message does that send to the world when our national mammal was hunted for sport nearly down to complete extinction, and now their population is only considered stable due to ranchers like Ted Turner who harvest them just like cattle. Most people even call them buffalo, which is a name derived from the French word for beef and it is a culinary term for their meat. It's Bison, not buffalo. These majestic behemoths of the Great Plains are more than meat for our own gluttony, they are and have been a symbol of the rich and majestic majesty of this land. No other place in the world has Bison!!! We've got them here, people!! Let's stop disrespecting them.
After loving on some dumbo-eared deer, Dustin and I took off for the Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings
Half a foot of snow
Treasure falls
As Dustin and I made our way to the Great Sand Dune National Park of Colorado, we drove up into the mountains. We ended up in the middle of a little snow storm! The ground was covered in half a foot of snow. We promptly pulled the car over in the San Juan national forest and played in the fluffy white snow!
Getting adventurous
Dustin loves the snow!
Yoshi has some chilly buns!
We threw Yoshi into ice jail! Hahaha >:}
A great big Aspen tree
We had SO much fun. It was great! After we played in the snow for a good hour, we continued on.
It is a criminal offense to touch a bald eagle, or any of its property. In fact, a man was threatened with the death penalty in Texas for having been caught eating a bald eagle.
So, then.. what of the Bison? Our national mammal used to roam this entire country in herds of 30-60 million and remarkably outlasted wooly mammoths and saber tooth tigers. They are North America's largest mammal and are a part of our history. So what message does that send to the world when our national mammal was hunted for sport nearly down to complete extinction, and now their population is only considered stable due to ranchers like Ted Turner who harvest them just like cattle. Most people even call them buffalo, which is a name derived from the French word for beef and it is a culinary term for their meat. It's Bison, not buffalo. These majestic behemoths of the Great Plains are more than meat for our own gluttony, they are and have been a symbol of the rich and majestic majesty of this land. No other place in the world has Bison!!! We've got them here, people!! Let's stop disrespecting them.
After a long day of driving and freezing our fanny's off, we made it to the Great Sand Dunes National Park! We got cozy in front of a fire that my awesome hubby started from scratch! It's 20 degrees here and the snow storm is still raging here in the Midwest. We hope that it ends soon so that we may head to Colorado Springs!
That's all for now!
