She Did Something

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

On the way to Durango from Albuquerque we stopped at Chaco Canyon (Chaco Culture National Historical Park). I thought it deserved its own post but words can’t really describe it. The drive in was a difficult 13 miles of unpaved rough road that included washes that are sometimes unpassable. They were drier than dry when we were there. As a matter of fact we encountered dust storms both before and after leaving the park. It was well worth the trip and rather than bore you with lots of words, I’ll show you with photos.

One Of Three Dogs Herding Goats Across The Road To Chaco Canyon

A Closer Look At The Goats. They Wore Bells

The ruins of the Chacoan Culture cover a period of approximately 300 years, from around 800 AD to 1100 AD. The ruins lay in a 9 mile loop around the canyon and are each walkable (within limits). Jim and I were able to go through many of the rooms and spaces for a closer look. It was an amazing experience.

A Doorway To One Of The Rooms

A typical Chacoan was around 5′ 5″. The doorways were shorter.

Another Doorway, Same Pueblo

A Kiva. These Are Thought To Be Ceremonial Areas

A Stairway and Door

Again, the ruins at Chaco Canyon defy words for me. Suffice it to say that this was an area that visitors spoke only in hushed voices and whispers.

Now, Jim, insisted there would be no doubling back on this trip but it seems we did a lot of that. After we left Albuquerque, we headed to Durango, CO. I’d already done some research about Durango and it looked like a really nice, but touristy, sort of town that was central to a lot of the places we wanted to see. It turned out to be bigger than I thought it would be and we really didn’t do much other than eat and sleep in the town. And, we went to Walmart.

Durango had the weirdest Walmart I’ve ever seen. They were rearranging it, but definitely not in the same way that most Walmart stores are arranged. It was so bad that when we walked in, Lynne, the door greeter, handed us a map of the store. Now, we needed some pretty strange stuff, namely a really big box, bubble wrap, tape, pencils and a sketch pad, but Lynne successfully showed us where to find all but the box. She told us to go check grocery stores for that, but since we needed one that was at least 38 inches long, 30 inches wide, and 20 inches deep, that seemed unlikely. She also told us where we would find a FedEx place.

The reason we needed the wrapping stuff is that we were carrying a kid’s pedal car in the back of the car…an outgrown toy from Brandon and Dylan for Jacob, our grandson. The thing was driving me nuts on those bumpy mountain roads by rattling and clunking. We thought it might be a good idea to just ship it home rather than carry it halfway around the country. At least we THOUGHT it was a good idea to ship it until FedEx told us it would cost us $137.00 to ship it. When I talked to my brother that night, he volunteered to ship it through his company if we got it to California in one piece. We decided to wait and donate the big roll of bubble wrap to him.

The hotel in Durango, a Doubletree Hotel, seemed pretty grand on arrival. The room itself was a little tired but it was clean and had a fairly nice view of the river, rafters and kayakers. To no avail, I did make note of some casinos fairly close by, but Jim pretended (I’m pretty sure) not to hear me. He had a plan, but we won’t go there. The hotel had an insanely expensive restaurant so we headed over to a nearby buffet for dinner the first night. It wasn’t too bad, but after traveling all day, neither one of us was really very hungry. They had some great soup though.

Shower time was a disaster the next morning. The hotel had the most complicated faucet system I’ve ever seen. I swear it took me 10 minutes just to figure out how to make it work. Once I did, I proceeded to take my shower and once I had my hair all lathered up with shampoo, the water pressure dropped off. I ended up with some seriously burning eyes but finally got it rinsed out. I explained the faucet procedure to Jim after I got out and warned him about the water pressure thing. I guess I was the lucky one. He had water pressure, but he ended up having to jump out of the water four times because it kept scalding him. They promised to have it looked at while we were out for the day.

When we complained at the front desk and asked them to check the water issue, they gave us a certificate for a complimentary dinner for two in their very fancy restaurant. I get really perplexed in those kinds of eateries. I think it’s the artistic design of the food. It’s like I’m not supposed to touch the layout. It makes me tense. I ate it anyway…well except the weird squash stuff. I really didn’t like that. Jim made the few patrons in the restaurant laugh when I asked for a piece of the cheesecake to take up to the room for later. He put a cloth napkin over his arm and did a whole waiter/butler routine as he carried it up to the room for me.

They didn’t fix the water issue. We had to complain again the next morning, but they gave us half off the room for the night before. It was a nice break.

Jim’s Duck at The Doubletree in Durango, CO