To Memories - Day 5

Today was a little different than previous days, because today was spent mostly in homage to Adam's grandmother, Ruth Slickman (aka "Big Mom"). When Adam was younger Big Mom would bring him out to Cortez to the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, where she lived and worked for a number of years, and showed him how to explore southwest Colorado as well as taking him to a number of different national parks.

Our day started out at Crow Canyon, meeting with the VP of Programs, Mark Varien. He gave us a tour of the center, mostly because I had never been there, and then showed us the "Ruth Slickman Outdoor Classroom." It's an oasis in the middle of the desert-esque landscape, and as Mark said, the children are drawn to the area as soon as they step off the bus. Plans are in the works to get a plaque made to memorialize Ruth further and is to be placed on a large rock in the classroom.



It was neat to see how the people of Crow Canyon reacted to Adam, either from recognizing him directly, or when they found out he was Ruth's grandson. These people seem like the kind that would do anything for you anyway, but I have the distinct feeling that they would take a bullet for Adam because of who his grandmother was. Mark gave us directions to Big Point, one of several places (one of her favorites) where Big Mom's ashes were scattered.


It was a beautiful location, very befitting of who, I've come to learn, Big Mom was. It was a very special, if not somewhat somber, visit. After Big Point, we stopped at a working archaeological dig site to see what it is that actually goes on. It was interesting to learn what they do and what they don't do, to learn about the Native American tribes that inhabited the area, and to preserve the site for future digs.


From the dig site, we ventured to Hovenweep National Monument, a place Big Mom took Adam on one of his visits to the area. Hovenweep consists of several Indian ruins spread out across western Colorado and eastern Utah (yes, we ventured into Mormon country). To see some of the structures that the Pueblo Indians were able to build 800 to 1000 years ago was truly awesome to see. Things got a little scary towards the end when we were about to run out of gas, but we made it safely to a gas station (thank goodness for the GPS) and then back to the hotel.


All in all, it was a great day...and to the lady, the legend, I'm sorry I never got to meet you, Ruth.