Ima Junior Ranger

Hello fellow Homo Sapiens! Today was a full day! I have so much to tell you guys and I don't know how I'll fit it all in! Something crazy is that I am now three hours behind most of you readers. So that's been weird. My friends keep texting me at 5:00 AM and I'm like "ARE YOU GUYS CRAZY WAKING UP THAT EARLY???" Yeah turns out it's actually only eight o'clock or seven o'clock from before we crossed another time zone. I was definitely goofy today and I know you all will enjoy my shenanigans! 

Okay so the first thing we did today was drive an hour up a mountain. I know you're thinking, "Wow, up a mountain, that's sooo interesting" emphasis on the sarcasm. Well it was actually super beautiful and amazing. When we got to the top it was the Mesa Verde Plateau. Guys, it was breathtakingly beautiful. The clouds were wistful and soft, the blue sky reached forever, and the canyon twisted and turned like a snake slithering. We paid for a tour down to the Pueblo people's homes and guys it was so worth ittttt! The ranger who guided us was so fun and goofy. He was super interactive AND called me a junior ranger THREE TIMES. That makes it official that I'm a junior ranger, right? We learned all kinds of things about the Pueblo people like how corn was more than just a sustenance. It is a social and spiritual thing to them. Corn was the most important thing to the Pueblo people. Another thing we learned was that water came out of a seep spring, not from a river or creek or anything else. But a spring in the wall of a cliff. I thoroughly loved the tour and I craved to learn more. I was sad when he stopped telling us cool facts but was excited again when we hiked almost the same path that the Pueblo people would hike to get out of the canyon. It was so fun to climb up the narrow sandstone stairs and steepish ladders. I can't fit all the pictures here but I will put one of the beautiful homes. 

The other thing my family did today was visit the Four Corners! It was pretty cool! They had four lines that intersected and then the names of each state in their designated area. You could stand in the middle and be standing in each state. My family each took turns standing in all four states and my dad did the normal just squatting and having a hand or foot in each state. Zane sat in the middle and just spread out so each limb was in a different state. Mom sat like a crab to be in all states. And lastly me, I used my creative juices and did a backbend so that a hand and foot were in each state. I got a ton of oohs and aahs from the adults standing around and I felt pretty proud to be honest. After we all got pictures, we walked around to each of the stalls that surrounded the Four Corners to see what was being sold. I found a ring that I really wanted and was so beautiful but it was very expensive. I understand that homemade stuff can be expensive, especially if it's jewelry but fifty dollars for a ring was a bit much. I found a Navajo hair clip, a Four Corners keychain, and a Four Corners sticker. I was very happy with my findings. Especially the hair clip. The lady who sold them was so nice and told me that everything she was selling was homemade by her family. She had such good prices and I loved her stall more than any of the others. There was one man who was also super nice (they were all super nice and amazing), he was selling little carvings of animals made out of stone. He told us that the bear represents strength, the turtle represents longevity, the wolf represents the teacher, and the horse represented was a healer. It was very fascinating to hear everything! 

So like I said today was a very full day! I hope you all enjoy my retellings of my many adventures! I thoroughly enjoyed today, it was exciting and right up my alley with all the Native American culture lessons. Tomorrow will also be interesting. You'll find out what we do tomorrow when I post tomorrow night! I will catch you guys next time with more meanderings!