Blanding is not so Bland

We had spent all of Friday in the house attending to tasks, so we were itching to get out on Saturday.  Thus, it was off to Blanding to get hair cuts from a nice young woman we found on-line.  Then we hit the pharmacy, library, and dollar store, getting all the essentials out of the way.

It was time to relax, so we visited the Cedar Mesa museum, a well-kept treasure trove of Native American artifacts.  Though I’m not hugely interested in such things, I did learn something interesting.  Having long seen the humpbacked flute player on book covers, magnets, even in the form of earrings, we discovered that this image is a character named Kokopelli, is a legendary character amongst the Hopi tribe, a lecherous troublemaker, who would wander in to villages and seduce women with his music.  He would wander in to town under the guise of a merchant, selling wares out of a sack, but would then entrance customers with his mysterious songs, ultimately leading to lewd acts. 

Outside they have a partially intact stone ruin, a good sized structure that once housed ancient Puebloans. From there we proceeded down the street to the Blanding Visitor’s Center.   We met a kindly elder statesman there manning the information desk.  As it turns out he was the grandson of Ezekiel Johnson, founder of our home park, Natural Bridges.  He gave us free power bars and gift bags, plus lots of information, particularly about Monument Valley, which will likely be our next big trip.

To cap off an interesting day, it started to snow heavily as we left Blanding….and here it was, April 14.   But a few miles down the road it suddenly stopped.  The sun came out and we stopped at Cottonwood State Forest, and wandered for awhile by a lovely, crystal clear stream.

We had to get our food home, though.   Down the twisting road a few miles we crossed down in to Comb Wash, a deep valley where undoubtedly a major river once flowed.   The sky was darkening and the vale appeared misty.   We turned down a dirt road and took mysterious-looking photos in the gathering gloom. 

Suddenly hail rained down upon us. We returned to the paved road and headed for home, and soon there was a full-blown snowstorm coming down again.   I had to drive very carefully, as the road quickly turned white.    Stopping to take photos occasionally, the whole scene was beautiful…and reminded us of home.

Back at Natural Bridges, we immediately set out to take photos of the park in snow, a wonderful sight as the sun again reappeared, just in time to set and end a hauntingly lovely day.

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