Colorado Adventures

We spent our first night in Cortez, Colorado. Upon checking into our motel, the desk clerk told Dan about the nearby National Park, Mesa Verde. The brochure she handed him sounded instantly like something that we would want to check out. So, after breakfast we took off for Mesa Verde. It was a quick 15 minute drive.

Upon driving up to the booth at the entrance of the park, we were greeted by a nice looking female park ranger. The sign stated that the charge for entrance into the park was $15 per car. As Dan was reaching for his wallet the park ranger told us that today entrance into the park was free. The conversation went something like this:

Park Ranger: Welcome to Mesa Verde. Today entrance into the park is free. This free admittance is made possible by the stimulus bill.

Me: The stimulus bill? How does giving us free entrance into the park stimulate the economy?

Park Ranger: Well, they have told me to tell you that providing free entrance into the park will provide those who can't usually afford to come to the park the opportunity to see the park.

Me: How does this create jobs?

Park Ranger (with a mischevious smile): Madam, as long as I'm dressed in this uniform, I can only say what they tell me to say. I am not free to tell you what I really think about this plan, but you are free to interpret my statement any way that you want.

Thus began our trip into the Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde is known for the cliff dwellings built by Anasazi Indians. We drove approximately 15 miles into the heart of the park where we found this first set of cave dwellings.
Here is our first glimpse of the cave dwellings as we began the 12 minute hike down the hill. The hike involved zig-zagging down a very steep grade. We wondered how well we would far the walk back up as we passed panting and sweating vacationers who were making the trip back up the hill.

The cave dwellings were absolutely amazing up close.

We weren't allowed to actually walk into the dwellings as they were chained off. You can see the black soot that remains to this day from the fires.

They did, however, allow us to climb down into the undergrown Kivas. The wood ladder is seen the the right foregrounds. Kivas were used during the bitter cold winter months by the tribe to cope with the cold. The park ranger told us that the entire tribe would congregate down in this kivas. The space is really quite small and I have a hard time imagining an entire tribe hanging out in such small corners.

You can see this person is coming down the ladder, thus entering the kiva.

After our climb down into the kiva, Dan being Dan started a long conversation with the park ranger. Because I know how long these conversations can take, I chose to continue to explore the cave dwellings and took some of the following pictures.

The park ranger told us that this cave goes back as far as 60 feet in some places.

I loved the ordered demonstrated in these rock pads for grinding grain.

I took this picture on the far end of the cave dwellings to show the entire area of the settlement. That's Dan in the red shirt, still talking to the ranger.

Once we saw all that we wanted to, it was time to begin the trek back up the hill. I'm standing on the walkway below Dan and you can see the next walkway above Dan's head, thus showing the zig-zagging path, as well as the steep grade of the path. I have to admit that we had to stop several times to catch our breath. The altitude really made catching our breath quite difficult.

Here's another view from above of the cliff dwellings we had just visited.

I think I still look okay after the difficult trek up the hill. No worse the wear.

We got back in the car and were able to spot other cave dwellings throughout the park.

Once we finished up with our trip through Mesa Verde about 2 pm, it was time to head north. We ended up in Leadville, Colorado at the end of the day. Leadville is about 45 minutes south of Vail, Colorado.

We woke up very early the next morning as we had the most uncomfortable bed and we simply couldn't bear trying to sleep anymore in them. We left about 6 am, which is very early for us. We decided to drive to the town of Avon, which is right next to Vail, for breakfast. We found a Denny's, ate a quick breakfast and were back on the road.

Vail is such a beautiful area and you can smell the money in the air. One of the reasons that we are taking this trip is to look for property that we may purchase for use once we retire. Vail would be a beautiful place to spend one's retirement years, but it is clear that you have to have considerable resources to be able to buy property there.

About 1/2 hour outside of Vail, we came upon Lizard's Head Pass. We simply had to pull over to capture this beauty with a picture. Just as we pulled up, we saw a single drop of water hit our windshield. It was about 2 inches in diameter. We looked around to see from whence the water drop came from. Nothing, we could see the source. I roll down the window to begin to take a photo and a second big drop of water hits the windshield. I click this picture and the we see a third big drop of water. Now we're really curious. Where are these drops of water coming from? We open the moon roof on the car and just as we do we see a big flash of lightening, which is immediately followed by a downpour. I've never seen raindrops this big! I captured the following video of the thunder and rain. The "storm" lasted about 5 minutes and then it was over and the sun came out.

Next stop is Wyoming.