Jusyt back from a great day in southwestern Colorado.. We woke early to find our yard overrun by a whole bunch of cows !.. We ent for a short run down their path and explored our neighborhood. 1 other house wihtin running distance.. and it appears empty.  glad we escaped the crowds below .. . Yoo certainly can feel the 8000 feet or so in your lungs as you run !~

 

We packed a lunch and headed south to Mesa Verde.. the largest Puebla native american dwellings.. it was about an hou and a half away..

 

The enterance to the museum was beautiful.. and just off the road.. what we didn’t know is that we had a 20 mile drive.. about 40 minutes .. to get to the ruins..

 

As we climbed the mesa, we drove on cliffs that were a few days drop on one side or the other.. we stopped frequently to unclamp our hands from the steering wheel, door handles, etc.. and to take in the incredible views..

 

 

 

 

There had been 3 bog fires here in the bask 20 years or so.. and the whole area still bore the scars.. the signs and rangeds explained that it’s an unavoidable part of living here.. but it made for soem mzing scenery

 

We stopped at the museum and had a picnic.. then went inside.. and heard a lecture on the place.. it was pretty good ! (I confess.. I feel instantly asleep 🙂

 

Behind the museum was Sprucetree house.. one of the easier accessed pueblas.. We wa;led down to explore it.. so many cool facts.. these were inhabit ted mostly in the mid 1200’s.. in a tome wehere this part of Colorado actually had significantly more folks living in it than it does today

 

The pueblos are amazing structures.. built in the sandstone at the site of seep springs.. places where groundwater dripped out at an interface between the porous sandstone and not so porous shale..

 

It was amazing being able to walk up intyo somehting that was 8000 years old like that

 

 

 

We even got to climb down into one of the covered ceremonial ‘kivas’

 

 

It was cool seeing soem of the everyday fixtures still intact like these grinding stones.. for grinding grain.

 

 

we then got back in the car and started driving to cliff palace.. the biggest puebla in the area.. on the way we tool the mesa loop and saw sme more cool stuff.. including some wildlife.. like this culture ..

 

and this dessert fox.. can you see him ? He was actually pretty big..

 

we stopped at a few smaller sites including this pit house from 600 CE

 

And several other beitiful vistas with and without pueblas..

 

 

All day we could hear the cicadas heres one of their empty  shells.

Ne;eive it or not.. these are all different cliff houses..

 

 

Then we got to Cliff Palace.. what a magnification place !

 

Franky was our guide for the hour tour.. we had to go up and down soem steep stairs and ladders to get too and from the site.

 

 

It really was remarkable.. based on carbon dating.. they are pretty sure most of the building happened between 1260 and 1270.. the place probably held about 150 folks..

 

it was 5 by the time we were finished and we were hot, dry, tired and happy.. max drve the treacherous way back to the highway.. we stopped to take a picture of ‘knife’s edge’ a cool geologic formation.

 

This guy was standing guard there.

by the time we got back to durango, it was time to eat.. so we grabbed good chniese from a place callde ‘Mays’.. id recommend it.. then came home..

We’re now watching the persied meteor shower… we sat in the hot tub and watched the things streak across hthe sky.. it was amazin and memorable..

now I’m too tired to type.. so I’ll end here..

more tomorrow

nite all

 

nite all. nite sam

-me