August 14, 2009, Friday MESA VERDE
Wow, how to explain Mesa Verde National Park .. .lt's at about 7000 feet with a lot of cedar trees. It's pretty with wonderful vistas where you can pull over and look down and see for miles and miles. But the really fabulous part is the ruins. These American Indians (Lamanites to all you Mormon folks) had this fabulous society where they built homes right into the cliffs. We toured one of them called the Cliff Palace. It was some kind of central gathering place for the people with some small (emphasis on small) housing areas on the outside. We had to climb down over 80 stairs (some places very narrow passages between rocks) to get underneath the rock overhang to climb all over the ruins. We also had to climb three or four wooden ladders off the edges of rocks. OK, it was difficult, but the hard part was that I didn't realize it would be at 7000 feet and I didn't think to bring my inhaler and I was having a lot of trouble breathing. But, I'm so glad I went. It was a wonderful and fabulous experience. Took me a long time to get back up the mountain, but it was so worth it. Went back to the campground for a rest. The weather here is so much cooler than I thought it would
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be, but we braved it and went for a dip in the pool, and then went in the hot tub. Tough life huh? We watched a movie, and went to bed early 'cause we want to take off early tomorrow and drive straight through to home. It's a little less than 400 miles.