Southern Ute Museum and Cultural Center

August 8 - Bill didn’t manage to snag the lawnmower again today. We had cereal for breakfast and then rode our bikes to pick up our reservations. He cleaned our 4 sites while I started weeding from the other end today. It took me an hour to do one site. It was a mess. At least the ground was moist from the sprinklers and lots of the weeds came up easily. I was on foot dragging my trash bag behind me. My back was hurting today, I think from the kayaking yesterday. I only managed to get 4 sites done and I was done! Bill did some weed eating too.

We rested a bit and then got ready to go into Ignacio. We had the buffet lunch special, which I’m getting tired of. I do love the posole soup though. Then we got our free play money and I only got to take home $14 today. It was better than losing $14 of my own money.

Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum

The casino is basically next door to the Southern Ute Cultural Center & Museum, which we had been waiting to visit with Carole and Herb, but since they can’t come, today was the day. It was a very nice museum but we didn’t go into the gallery that changes. There are 3 Ute tribes and they are all from the same original tribe but now there are also Mountain Ute and Northern Ute. We thought they did a good job displaying the life of the Ute before and after the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) got involved. The Ute believe they come from the Sun/Sky and that is why they named the casino the Sky Ute Casino. They still have annual pow-wows and spring gatherings where they celebrate and do their Bear Dances and other rituals. We got to meet an old Indian man who is a descendant of Buckskin Charlie who was a Chief of the Utes in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. We had an interesting talk with him about how you get land and that there are only 1400 tribal members and they have to be ¼ Ute or more to be a tribal member. They get income from the tribe from the casino, the gas lines and other ventures. The children get $250 each per month up to $4600 a month after you turn 55. If they drop the blood requirement then those 1400 lose money. Very interesting.

Two of the 100's of natural gas wells we see dotted along
the roads and fields.

We stopped at the grocery mainly to fill our water jugs and didn’t get home until 4:45, so we also missed picking up our mail. Kam said she send a packet a few days ago, so we will time it better tomorrow and be sure to get it.

We took Xena up to the office area and Bill walked her while I sent over to make sure Rebecca and Harlan could take her out while we’re gone tomorrow. We weren’t hungry so we didn’t have dinner until 7:30 or so. Bill had pasta and I had spaghetti squash with Italian sausage and sauce. I made a small peach crisp and we had some while we watched more Olympics!