Doug and Leslie do Clan of the Cave Bear

Sunday, June 6, 2010

I had a restless night’s sleep. Although it was cool outside and we had all the windows open, I was warm and restless. Add that to spouse’s ‘gentle breathing’, and I ended up on the sofa for a few hours. About 2:30, went back to bed and was able to quiet Spouse long enough to fall asleep. Woke about 5:30 am, which was ok because we wanted an early start today to go to Mesa Verde and the Indian ruins. So with sleepy eyes, I decided to take Bart on my powerwalk. You need to understand something… walking Bart normally takes the ‘power’ out of the powerwalk. When he is on a leash, he drags. But with the open parks across the street, once I got him there I would be able to take him off the leash, and he would keep up with me, which he did.

When I got back, Spouse was making sandwiches for us. After a quick bite to eat, off we went to Mesa Verde national park, leaving Bart to guard Hannah. We were a little worried that it would be crowded as they were letting people in for free this weekend. But apparently, the big crowds came on Saturday, which was good for us. As we turned into the park, 2 deer trotted across our path. We climbed up the pine studded mountain 15 miles to the visitor center where we would buy tickets to the ranger led tours.

The first place was the Cliff Palace. The ancient pueblan Indians were very clever. They didn’t build on top of the cliffs. They didn’t build at the bottom of the cliffs. They build right smack dab in the middle of the cliffs. To get to these dwellings, the Indians carved toe holds and hand holds. Fortunately for us, the park service built easier access… kind of. We had steep stairs for people with little feet (not me), we had narrow trails, and then we had ladders. The ruins are absolutely intriguing. They used the natural topography to build their villages. Although it was hot in the sun, under the cliffs, it was quite cool.

At the Balcony House, it was another version of the cliff dwellings. But here, we also got to crawl on our hands and knees through narrow tunnels. With my large derriere, I was a little worried there, but I fit. Here we got taller ladders and steeper ladders. We also got stunning views.

We travelled around this first mesa looking at the various sights. There are hundreds of these cliff dwellings. We did take pictures with our cell phones, but we don’t have the means here to download them from our phones. Maybe tomorrow in Farmington we can get help.

The last dwelling we wanted to look at was the Long House. It was on another mesa altogether. It took about an hour to navigate the winding road and it had extensive views of the Montezuma Valley from the Rocky Mountains to Ship Rock in New Mexico and beyond. We ate our sandwiches and relaxed until the tour began. It was about a ¾ mile hike to the ruins but they were tucked in a corner and had another view that was awe inspiring. By the end of this tour, it was already almost 4pm so we figured we better head out so that Bart could get some relief! After all, we left around 7am! I sure hope Spouse’s foot doesn’t start bothering him.

Bart was glad to see us. After a shower, I tried to see if I could get my pix from the phone, but no luck for now. I will get them though, at some point in time. Vodka Tonic time. Right in the middle of VT, we heard some musicians across the street in the park, so we went and listened for a while. In the shade, it was so nice. In the sun, it was still 93 at 7pm.

Tonite, we might sleep with the air conditioner on! Tomorrow, it is off to Farmington to do business. Yech… who says we are retired…