Road trip to Cortez

I don't teach on Tuesdays, but there are always a million things to do.  Today I drove to the Cortez Cultural Center to talk about the Four Corners Lecture Series.  It's kind of cool to spend time with people who know next to nothing about the college and who are long-time employees of Mesa Verde National Park, the BLM, and Crow Canyon. I brought banana/chocolate chip muffins and added my 2 cents where I could.  For the past two years I've chosen a student to make the poster, but the college being broke and all, we're paying a guy with a delightful Jersey accent and an excellent sense of style to do the job. 

After we'd done all we could do and I handed out more muffins ("I'm late, but I baked" was my opener, as I always miscalculate how long it takes to drive over there, especially when I stop at Upper East Side for a bagel on the way and the barista is a trainee who takes some time to get my drink...).  I left wondering, "Hmn.  Where should I shop and what should I eat now," so I headed to Notah Dineh to roam around, buy some sweet grass braids and brass bells to take to Ecuador, and looked at all the stuff I can't afford.  I had made everyone at the table in the Cortez Center laugh when I asked where the Target, Macy's, and Bloomingdale's was located.  Someone said, "I think the Navajo for Bloomingdale's is 'Notah Dineh," which gave me the idea to go there.