Cortez, CO

August 22-23, 2020

With the coronavirus still running rampant with no end in sight, planning trips has been difficult. Lodging is sparse to non-existent and attractions may or may not be open at any given time.

What the coronavirus won’t do is stop us from looking for an ideal place to live when we decide we’re ready to move.

Brandy wants to ultimately move to Colorado. My family, including my sister, my parents, my son and my grandmother, all live here in Rio Rancho. Moving to Colorado is something I was resistant to at first, but now that my sister has evidently had enough of me, my parents admitting that they’re on the verge of moving to Colorado as well, and my grandmother being 84, my son remains my only link to the state of New Mexico. I do love living here, but being in a relationship is all about compromise. She wants to live in Colorado, I want to stay in New Mexico, so we’ll compromise and move to Colorado.

Her ultimate goal is to live in Almont, Crested Butte or Gunnison, but the cost of housing in those areas is outrageous. She’d be happy settling in any small town, as long as it’s not too populated.

We’ve spent time looking at houses in towns such as Cimarron, Somerset, and the destination of our most recent trip destination, Cortez, on Zillow.

Cortez is considered a Home Rule Municipality in the southwestern corner of the state, just north of Farmington and just west of Durango. Zillow shows a few homes for sale in the area for very good prices (considering it’s Colorado.)

In order to see if it’s an area that’s a good fit for us, we took a trip up there this past Saturday, August 22.

Cortez was a short four hour drive from Albuquerque. We took Ash with us. He spent the bulk of the trip trying to get into the front seat with us.

We managed to make it up to Cortez at around 1:00, two hours before our check in time, so we took a trip to Mesa Verde National Park, which was the big highlight of our trip.

Mesa Verde National Park was established as a means to protect the Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings scattered throughout the site.

We passed through the gate into the park and took a very scenic 45 minute drive to the top of park where we were able to get out of the car and see some of the cliff dwellings, albeit from afar. Even from the distance from which we saw them, I could tell they were imposing structures. I’m excited to return without Ash so we can explore the abodes on foot (dogs are not allowed in the ruins.)

After a couple of stops to take some pictures, we started the trek back down the mountain, stopping at the Far View Lodge where we picked up a few trinkets to go on my souvenir wall.

We wound up at the dog-friendly hotel, a Super 8 on Main Street (a solid 2 star hotel), at 3:00 and checked in. I then left to go get dinner and fill the car with gas before settling in for the night. We left the next morning at around 10:00 and made the drive home, getting back home at about 1:30.

Overall, it was a nice getaway trip. We liked Cortez, but not enough to want to move there. We do want to head back up in the future (sans Ash) to explore the cliff dwellings as well as check out the Four Corners monument.

Also coming up, for a long Labor Day weekend (Sept 4 through 7) we will be heading up to Estes Park, Colorado to visit one of Brandy’s friends at an Air BnB.

On the way up and back, we’ll be checking out more of those small towns mentioned in the beginning of the story, starting with Cripple Creek on Friday.

I’ve posted a few pictures we took at Mesa Verde over on my Photo Diary page, be sure to head over and check those out.

Otherwise, check back after Labor Day for an update from our trip to Northern Colorado!

I leave you now with a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson, who said, “I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.”

See ya soon!

-Phil