Pause between canyons

The Southwest can be overwhelming.                                                                                                     Particularly if one wants to see it all in, say, 10 days. Each canyon, desert, rock spiral has a life of its own and requires time, concentration, dreams, and much more to then say "I've been there"! Imagine seeing Paris, Kathmandu, Brazzaville, and San Francisco in a week and going home trying to remember something about what you've seen. Kind of hard, right? Same for the Southwest, my friends.

But I'm being digressive. My story today is about finding a meaningful stop among the stunning canyons, without losing the focus on the area you are discovering. Usually, after a canyon, another one follows.





As an example,
between this (Canyonland)





and

                                          this (Monument Valley)

Not if you travel, for instance, from Moab, Utah, and Monument Valley, expanding over Utah and Arizona. There is a jewel that is easily missed. But it's seriously worth a turn off the main road.






This jewel is The Edge of the Cedars Museum. Here one finds an amazing collection of important artifacts excavated in the archaeology rich surrounding area or not very far from there, all belonging to the Ancient Puebloans civilization, once known as Anasazi. Effigy pottery, mugs, ladles and vessels are incredibly beautiful and very well preserved. It's the largest collection of its kind in the whole Four Corners area!

Two pieces caught my eye: almost intact "coverlets" i.e. turkey feathers blankets. Doesn't sound that astonishing? Just figure an Anasazi guy weaving in those days to make such a wonderful and useful piece.
It is hard to take a good picture of these blankets, so I post what I have, sorry!

This is the base on which the feathers were woven around

Around the museum there are some fantastic murals reproducing some of the most famous but hard to get to rock art with immense figure whose message we will never discover.

Not only the Edge of the Cedars has a collection to die for, but is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the prehistoric Ancestral Puebloan presence.

Plan to stay for a long time to read all the fascinating stories and findings about each object. You won't regret it.