Wed, July 13; Cortez NM, U.S.A.
High: Tubing on the reservoir, which is called the McFee reservoir, and using a party boat and tube from Doc’s Marina. Me and my brother Zeb had a lot of fun, and the water was really nice. I also really enjoyed the Canyons of the Ancients Visitor Center and Museum. We did the half mile hike, which was paved, and learned all about different plants. My favorite was a leaf called Gambel Oak. It looks very similar to the Oak leaf, but is slenderer and is used in many different ways. For example, the Gambel Oak acorns are a great source of food for squirrels, and are great for cocktails too! They are very bitter.
Another awesome plant that we discovered was the ServiceBarry. This berry is one of the first plants to bloom in the spring. It is usually covered with good smelling white flowers before they first appear. They are widely grown from 4,000 – 10,000 feet of elevation.
Serviceberry Pie
3 ½ cups serviceberries
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Pastry for a two-crust pie
Mix all the above ingredients together, coating the serviceberries well. Put in a 9-inch pie shell and cover with top crust and flute edges. Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour. (See photo below)
Low: My low today was only having to wear a mask in the museum. The disposal one’s make my face itch really bad. I have also found that all National Park museums are still requiring masks.
Learned: I learned how the puebloans made houses underground! At the top of the hike there is a dwelling that the pueblo people made. It has 2 kiva’s, and was built in 1120 A.D. The people didn’t stay there long though. The archaeologist’s did not say when the dwelling was abandoned.
Thu, July 14; Cortez NM, U.S.A.
High: This morning we went to Mesa Verde National Park. This amazing mountain has great views, and we got to see the sunrise, but it was also home to more than 600 dwellings. We only got to see a fraction of them, but we still learned so much. My favorites were the cliff dwellings. The biggest one was called Cliff Palace. It had 20+ kiva’s, and 3 watch towers. We saw 4 other cliff dwellings from the Pueblo people, and 3 in ground preserved dwellings.
Low: Waking up at 5:45 am.
Learned: All about Mesa Verde. One very interesting fact that I learned was: why did the people leave? It was mostly because of the weather. The land was getting too cold to grow their crops, and the water was not coming in enough quantity to nourish their people.
