**** Not much food in this one. But, if you get enjoyment out of wonderful views, you might like to read on.
Before I get on with this post, I need to thank "FOY" Dereck who provided me with tons of information on Cortez, Mancos, Mesa Verde, and Durango! What would we do without all of our helpful "Friends of Yoso" out there! Thanks Dereck!
We headed out from Flagstaff fairly early. It seemed like the drive to our first stop would be around 4 hours, but it ended up closed to 5 1/2 because of road work. I had always wanted to check out the Four Corners Monument the only place where four states meet in the whole US. We finally made it and paid the entrance fee; $8 per person and parked. We walked to the monument and stood in line to get to the spot where the four states meet.
And then got our 10 minutes at the four corners spot.
Not much else to do here, so we headed out.
We made reservations at a very comfortable motel/Inn that Dereck recommended named Retro Inn which even let us check in early. We then took a walk around downtown Cortez and went thru possibilities for lunch and dinner. Well, the Missus wasn't too keen on any of them. In the end we drove to nearby Mancos to check out Zuma Natural Foods a health food store.
And got a couple of sandwiches which they kindly toasted on the panini press for us.
And then headed upstairs to the outdoor dining area.
Both sandwiches were nicely toasted and the Hiker's Delight with the marinated mushrooms and roasted red pepper was a definite hit.
The gooey melted provolone and garlic aioli just added to the flavors.
The other sandwich was good; toasted to perfection, but it was weird having whole cashews in the sandwich.
The Missus enjoyed the sandwiches so much that we decided to just buy some salads and a mini watermelon and have that for dinner.
We always enjoy finding little markets during our road trips and thought that this was a nice little gem.
Zuma Natural Foods
299 North Main St.
Mancos, CO 81328
We headed back to the motel and relaxed a bit, then took another walk thru Cortez. Our dinner was those salads from Zuma. Love these type of set-ups; the car is parked right in front the door and there's a small table set-up where we could eat and share a couple of glasses of wine.
The next morning I grabbed a yogurt and some coffee from the free breakfast and we headed off. We had decided to stay the evening in Cortez so we could get an early start for our visit to Mesa Verde National Park. We entered and got to the Visitors Center just after they opened.
We took a walk along the short trail that goes around the Visitors Center. Man, talk about a view!
I had already planned our hikes for this day. Though when I saw the destination for our first hike….well, I wasn't too sure. The Point Lookout Trail ends on the Mesa in the photo below.
We enjoyed our time in the Visitors Center. We've found National Park Rangers to be very friendly and patient. We got some maps and info on Mesa Verde, then headed off.
Our first stop, the Point Lookout Trail. This trail is close to the entrance to the park near Morefield Campground. We easily found parking. In fact, we were the only car in the parking lot! I guess that visiting mid-September might be a good time?
There were a bunch of switchbacks and about a 400-500 foot elevation gain.
But the view at the end was wonderful!
And the Missus loved the fact that there was no one else on the trail when we visited.
In fact, in the photo below you can see our car parked as we headed down the trail. There was one other car in the lot at this time.
We then headed down a bit and did the Knife Edge Trail. According to what I read, this trail follows a portion of the Knife Edge Road which was used to access the park.
While this was a pretty easy trail…I wouldn't want to drive it!
And again the payoff were some great views.
And we had yet to see another human on these trails!
From here we decided to drive down to Wetherill Mesa and do a bit more exploring and hiking.
Stay tuned!
Along with several stela some of which were used as astronomical devices.
It looked pretty much the same and I'll say that the fries where just as good, slightly crisp, with a creamy interior as it used to be.
So I took a bite and…got all bread? What the heck. It seemed like about half the sandwich was all bread. Strange. I'm thinking either they are still getting used to cutting the bread in the correct manner or they are using less ingredients. Anyway, the shrimp didn't seem of the same quality and seemed overcooked and rubbery; it also looked smaller than before, see the photo below. That's the cap from the little container of sauce for the fries.
Walk in, order, pay, find a seat inside or outside.
There are menus above and on the wall as well as physical laminated menus. 
The Mister ordered a Soup and 1/2 sandwich plate ($10.75)
He chose a hot half sandwich-grilled Pastrami and Swiss on toasted sourdough (instead of grilled rye). Russian dressing, lettuce and tomato were offered and since this order wasn't traditional, he got it all. This was very good.
There are four homemade soups offered here: Chicken Noodle, Chicken Tortilla, Broccoli Cheddar and Clam Chowder. The chicken ones are priced at $5.50 and $6.40; the vegetarian is $5.25 and $6.15 and the chowder is $6.50 and $7.75 if purchased as an individual cup or bowl. No extra charges for the combo plate. Clam Chowder it is, and it is wonderful. Creamy, rich with clam juice and a lot of clam meat. Tiny diced potatoes and celery. Perfectly seasoned (no need to add salt or pepper), this was really the best we've had out here. 
I ordered a grilled chicken salad ($13.75) with the house made ranch dressing (as you can see, three containers of ranch are given). The fresh vegetables and nicely grilled chicken made for a really great meal. 
I noted in my previous post that there's quite a bit more filling these days and on this visit they went a bit overboard on the chipotle. This was much spicier than I recall, though perhaps my tolerance has waned over the last couple of years? I also noted that they have changed the bread in my last post as well; it's quite yeasty and much lighter than what I used to enjoy. Regardless, the combination of eggs, beans, cheese, salsa performed adequately as my late breakfast on this day. Though perhaps I would have appreciated a bit more beans.
So, I peeled back the bread to reveal watery, runny, flavorless eggs, and though the Spam slices were fairly thick they lacked color. I recall trying to order a 
The tri-tip was pretty tender, though mild in terms of smokiness. It's nicely seasoned with a good amount of black pepper, though I'm going to ask them to go easy on the lemon-garlic mayo. Which, while it adds rich-creaminess and a mild acidity, was too much of a good thing this time around. I really like the use of Gouda on this sandwich, you can actually taste it.
As I walked toward the shop I noticed several gentleman sitting facing the front of the store and then noticed that they have a television facing the parking lot, so folks can watch from outside of the place! Funny thing. Though I'm quite used to the Vietnamese Men "doing coffee" thing…..I don't ever recall seeing them watching Paw Patrol before, which is what was streaming at the time I entered the shop.
The bread seemed to be at that overly dry, almost stale stage as it was quite crumbly and hard. Check out all the cilantro, that wedge of cucumber, and all those pickled veggies! I guess they wanted to make I was getting my daily allowance here! Of course that threw the balance of the banh mi off a bit. The jalapenos weren't overly spicy, the pate nice and funky, the Cha Lua sliced super thin, and the Thịt Nguoi standard issue. 