We stayed in Durango for two days so that we could take a look at Mesa Verde in Colorado. It was not a very long drive from the hotel and we stopped for gas in Mancos which such a small town that I was really surprised to find it had a web site. Stopping for gas was an adventure. Jim had a rough time trying to find a slot in the gas pump to insert the debit/credit card. He finally realized this was a cash only pay before you pump gas station. The guy in the 1970’s pickup just laughed when Jim said “I take it you have to pay in advance?” It was a good thing we had some cash on us since we’ve been using the debit card just about everywhere.
Mesa Verde National Park was no less awesome than Chaco Canyon except that actually getting to some of the more impressive ruins too much difficult climbing. The cliff dwellings involved escorted tours and ladders which I never climb willingly. We settled for looking at the ruins from above, but they were still impressive and the surrounding scenery was spectacular. The cliff dwellings date back to as early as 600 A.D. and as late as 1300 A.D. We were able to climb down to where the tour groups meet (the ones that climb scary ladders) and had a great view of one of the largest dwellings called “The Cliff Palace”:
Overhead view of The Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde
Jim and I were both pretty tired when we arrived at Mesa Verde and were even more so after we climbed back up from our view of The Cliff Palace. We had stopped to rest for a few on a bench and these two British woman came walking by. One asked us, very matter of factly, “Do you serve French Fries?” Now I am not sure why they asked that, but it seemed to have something to do with their tour. At any rate, it seemed hilarious to us and we spent a long time laughing about it.
Some of the cliff dwellings were not as easily reached so we looked at them from across the canyons. The one below, I believe, is called the “Balcony House” but don’t quote me on that. If you look really hard you can see what looks like a bunch of windows in cliff.
The Balcony House at Mesa Verde
There were other equally impressive ruins that were walkable at Mesa Verde and it was well worth the visit. The view from all areas was beautiful, though a large portion seemed to have suffered a fire. We spotted a few wild horses to add to our collection of wildlife in the area of the burns:
Wild Horse – Mesa Verde