On the road again

First of all, a food tip:

We ate in El Charro Loco in Moab.  Most Mexican restaurants are pretty much indistinguishable.  But this one has a flavor all its own.

My wife and I shared some wonderful chiles rellenos stuffed with meat, raisins, and pineapple (her order) and (my order) green pork enchiladas. Unusually good.

Our son had what he reports to have been an excellent dish—the “Vallarta fajita”—already mingled with beef, chicken, chorizo, and lots of vegetables. (Huge. Enough for two.)

I really recommend this little place, which is located at 812 South Main Street.

Leaving Moab, we drove by the Monticello Utah Temple. It’s a historic place, the first of the very small temples built by the Church pursuant to a revelation received by President Gordon B. Hinckley. My only regret is that it’s scarcely visible from the highway as one passes through that tiny town.

We spent several hours at Mesa Verde National Park.  Sometimes I’m amazed — and a bit ashamed of myself – that we travel long distances to see the remains of exotic ancient civilizations when the ruins of Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon and such places are in our backyard.

Fascinating.

I hope to come back sometime in the not too distant future, having read up a bit on the sites and their history and culture, and to spend some more (and more serious) time there and in the general region of the ancient Anasazi (now fashionably called “the Ancestral Pueblo people”).

Driving between Moab and Monticello, we found ourselves trapped for a long time behind a car bearing a Nebraska license plate.  When the road was straight and permitted passing, the driver of the car exceeded the speed limit.  But when the road curved, or went up or down, which was almost constantly, s/he would drop to twenty miles below the speed limit.  My guess is that, being from Nebraska, the folks in the car had never been on a curving road before, or on one that changed altitude.

We listened to a fair amount of jazz enr oute.  No country.

Posted from Santa Fe, New Mexico