Page 8 – pspencer.net

Mexican Hat

One town in the Navajo reservation south of us is Mexican Hat. It’s mentioned in a few Hillerman books, and is right on the route to Monument Valley, so fairly popular with tourists. Tiny town, right on a river, scenic, but pretty much nothing there – one cafe, one motel, one gas station, that’s pretty much it. But why Mexican Hat? The name made no sense until I saw this on maybe my third time driving through:

Somehow that is a natural rock formation. Bizarre.

In other news: we put up a hummingbird feeder, and only days later there are two of them fighting over it. These ones do seem to sit still for (brief) periods, which makes them very slightly easier to photograph.

Meimei has noticed them; I’m not sure she identifies them as birds, though – no chattering, just staring with a puzzled look.

Garden

The garden in the front of the house has come in nicely, now that it’s summer:

The prickly pear cactus had a nice yellow flower on it at one point; unfortunately I didn’t get a picture.

They finally finished the twin-home (semi-detached) across the street, under the large cottonwood tree. Fairly nice home, but not quite what we wanted.

Quesadillas!

Food trucks have become a huge thing over the last 10 years. It started in places like Los Angeles, where there are real known chefs who abandoned their regular restaurant for a truck, and where you can get some really cutting-edge food – Korean/Mexican fusion, anyone? And yes, we have a food truck here in town:

It’s a truck – but it mainly stays in one location on Main Street, and only moves occasionally. On the theory of “do one thing and do it well”, they only serve quesadillas – but on most of the restaurant review sites, they are rated the #1 place to eat in town.

And sometimes at the end of the day I get a quesadilla brought home….. yum.

Movie Set

This is an old movie prop, currently located at a gas station just north of town. It was moved there from the original location, about 20 miles away in Canyonlands National Park.

The movie was “Riders of the Purple Sage”, an old Zane Grey western that has been made into a movie not once, not twice, but five times. This set was from the most recent 1996 version, which was filmed in and around Moab. I’ve never seen it, but the plot is centered around a persecuted, isolated religious group in Utah…. gee, I wonder who they’re talking about?

The building was the church in the film, and they have a few other props scattered about. I have no idea why the set was moved here, or whether they plan on doing anything with it; but for now it makes an interesting detour on a bike ride.

Meimei Barking

Well, not barking exactly, yipping? Not a traditional cat-like noise, although it is fairly common for Ocicats. Warning: if you don’t like cats making all manner of sounds, you’ll hate Ocicats.

She’s at the top of their new floor-to-ceiling cat post which I got for their first birthday. They both love it; there are now constant games of king-of-the-castle.