August 2 - Cortez

Ahah!  The RV park owner got the wi-fi fixed.  Now I can download all my ramblings from the last week.  Today was laundry, some grocery shopping and a visit to the Information center to find out when and where the balloon festival is supposed to begin.  Answer:  6:30 a.m. tomorrow morning.  Does this mean we have to set the alarm?  If so, do we have an alarm and how do we set it?

After lunch we went to the Anasazi Culture Center.  I asked the ranger why it was still called Anasazi, since that term has been replaced by Ancestral Pueblo peoples, and she had the most sensible answer: “It’s the government.  We’ll get permission to change it about the time the experts decide the Ancestors should be called something else.”

Indy, I have some photos I took with you in mind.  First, here are two painted mountain lions to add to the buffalo and horse collection.  I don’t know where more are, and no one seems to be able to tell me, but these two are pretty. This one is called Sky Prowler and the one below is named Chuska Puma.
I know you are enjoying your ceramics class, so I thought it was interesting that a pottery expert studied a lot of the mugs and pottery found in the pueblos of the Ancestors and discovered that the small ones were made by children just about your age.  She figured that out by measuring the fingerprints left in the clay.  All these are most likely toys made by children for their own play things.	And look what I have.  I saw the Junior Ranger booklets at the front desk and said that there should be a Senior Ranger program.  The ranger said that the Bureau of Land Management, which is the organization that runs the Anasazi Culture Center, does have a Senior Ranger program.  So now I just need to fill out the booklet to get my very own Senior Ranger badge!