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Show Cross Currents November 7, 1997 k Id development. Students also organize and lead expeditions. Before coming to southern Utah, Sermos and her Jim Bender, studied the curriculum the staff of the Canyonlands Field Institute, a nonprofit environmental education company based in Moab, provided for this Outdoor SttttH mti NEW MEXICO STEEL er, Science School. The teachers used Kenneth Browns seminal book, Four Corners. They studied ancestral puebloan rock art symbols. They also required the students to read Edward Abbeys Desert Solitaire. Almost all of the students had never been to the desert Southwest before this trip. Before arriving they had only read about the basket makers, kivas, humpback chubs and desert varnish. Some admittedly expected a flat expanse of cactus, snake and very litde water something like the Sahara, they say. 41 Page 9 ( STAY-IN-PLAC- E Meeting your musical needs j t sincel919. POLYSTYRENE CONCRETE FORM ABOVE OR BELOW GRADE APPLICATION SUPERIOR INSULATION 902-- D Mon - Fri Durango Mall (970) Sat 10-- 7 Sun 10-- 9 FMT SAN JUAN BIVD - They expected the kind of solitude Abbey wrote about, but in their immaturity, they have yet to learn the value of solitude. Tor them it is loneliness. They dont have the magnitude of appreciation of a solitary desert experience that many adults do. And, ironically, many experience exactly what Abbey wrote about in that the desert doesnt Journey Home always inspire love. It often appears barren, hostile and repellent. I didnt like Desert Solitaire," Laura Sommer honestly says. It was just like this guys thoughts." Sommers classmate, Hilary Smith, agrees. But she reveals her understanding of Abbeys journeys. He was on a mission to study the desert, she says. Sommer and Smith say the classroom education about this expedition wasnt interesting until they were able to sec and - r. I W w na Thanksgiving Turkey by playing Blackjack, Poker, Keno Slots, or Bingo from 10:00am to 2:00am. Drawings for turkey coupons will be held once an hour and can be redeemed at City Market in Cortez, CO or Shiprock, NM. experience it. But when we came here it was exciting because we knew what it meant, Must be present to win and be 21 or older with a valid photo Smith says. The beauty of the San Juan is its rich archaeology' and geology in one of the Wests most enriching w ilderness experiences. What the gentle, class II whitewa-te- r Please join us for our. lacks in thrills, the superb hikes of swimming holes, Indian ruins and dramatic slickrock nuke up for. Daily hikes teach the students about the tools the ancestral puebloans used. One hike is to a wall with Kloki steps, the imprints in the sandstone carved for access to higher places. The students imagine how hard it wtis to use them because of their instability. I thought it was weird how they carried bundles in those steps I couldnt even climb up," Sommer says later in the trip. It makes me appreciate what 1 have." Other hikes reveal granaries still partially intact. Four indentations in the side of the canyon wall remain as evidence the early dwellers used as support for shelter. There also are kivas, sacred ceremonial circles. Parts of pithouses, homes dug a few feet into the ground where walls were ID. Rules available in the casino. . . Buffet Thanksgiving November 27th Thursday, $7.95 at per person Beginning 1 1:00am 4 Please see page 10 miles south of Cortez on Hwy 160666 in Towaoc, Colorado. 11 800-258-80- 07 or 565-830- 0, ext. 145. C AND RV PARKh 259-22- 1 11-- 6 1 |