Cortez, "Gateway to Canyon Country"

Cortez Colorado Sunset, from the wal-Mart parking lot. Cool crisp air must be the key, since there was plenty of that.
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Leaving Denver on Great Lakes Airlines in a 19-seat Beechcraft, I was very happy to learn that I was sitting in the most successful 19-passenger airliner in airline history.  But still, it was a tiny 19-passenger turboprop, and we were flying over mountains.  Many mountains.  Many, many mountains.  After an anxious hour of scanning the beautiful, cold, and snowy Colorado mountains for hidden places to land in an emergency, I realized we were in fact landing, as intended, in Cortez, Colorado, safe and sound.

Another special Cortez view, also from Wal-Mart's parking lot.
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Cortez bills itself as the Gateway to Canyon Country, and it was certainly that for me.  I was planning to see Canyonlands National Park, among other attractions in the Four Corners area.  However, I would be staying in Monticello, Utah, an hour's drive from Cortez, and was renting a Hertz car at the Cortez Municipal Airport.

Sunset at Wal-mart

If you plan to arrive in Cortez, you'll be pleased to know that the terminal building is about the size of an average doctor's office; you won't get lost looking for either the rental car services -- you can pick Hertz or Budget -- or baggage claim -- they drive the baggage from the plane in a little tractor to the front door of the terminal.

Baggage claim at Cortez: curbside delivery
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I got the keys to my rental car from the Hertz guy, whose name I admit I did not get.  But it should have been Tex or Chuck or Budd, something like that.  Black cowboy hat, real helpful manner.  Free map.  They are like that in Cortez.  Nice folks.

My first stop was the Cortez Super Wal-mart.  My husband's temporary lodging in Monticello was 65 miles away, and he had already warned me to pick up whatever I might need at the Cortez Wal-mart.  So I stocked up on yogurt, whole grain bread, fish, and V-8 juice, just a few of the items I understood I might not find in Monticello.

It was dark when I met my son at the Cortez airport a few days later, but we didn't get lost in the terminal. Here are half of the seats.
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Coming out of Wal-mart I was rewarded with a drop-dead gorgeous sunset, which I tried to capture and I stood there, bags and all, in the Wal-Mart parking lot.  And off I set, on another adventure.