Our day started with a visit to Mesa Verde National Park.  Mesa Verde National Park protects Native-American dwellings ranging from 800 to 1,500 years old.  From pit house remnants (which are little more than round holes in the ground) to extensive cliff houses, Mesa Verde catalogs a large piece of history.

The cliff houses are the most interesting and also the most visited sites.  Despite signs warning access to the dwellings requires a certain level of physical fitness, this does not deter anyone.  Erik witnessed an obese woman firmly wedged in a narrow rock gap.  I watched a 56 inch waist attempt to navigate an 18 inch passage.

The National Park Service provides guides for some tours.  Our guide gave this advice:  "Drink lots of water.  Water has oxygen.  This will help you breath." 

While descending to a ruin, a woman behind us remarked:  "I can't imagine how these people slept here!  I mean, look at all this dirt!"

Questions posed to our guides:

"Did they have curtains?"
"If the walls were solid, how did they fire [their guns]?"
"Did the cowboys burn all the ladders?"
"Do you know if the Coliseum in Rome is made of cement, or was it made like these ruins?"

Our tour ended as a summer rainstorm swept across the mesa.  Damp and windblown, we dashed to the Element and headed for Chamas, New Mexico.

An hour after leaving Mesa Verde, we stopped in Durango, Colorado, for dinner.  The rain stopped long enough for us find a taqueria and cruise the boys at the adventure tours booth.  Erik and I agreed Durango has the best looking men in the Four Corners area.  After dragging Erik through the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad shops, it was time to move on.

We made a brief stop in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, the (naturally) smelliest city in the western United States. (Having lived in San Francisco with its open sewers and drifting homeless population, I can think of different candidate for the most un-naturally smelliest city...)

Chamas, New Mexico rests just across the border from Colorado.  If you stand in the middle of Chamas, you'll see both gas stations, the Dairy Queen, a restaurant and a hotel.  After a shower we made our way to the local restaurant.  We walked through the door and every eye (all twelve of them) rotated to us - and didn't look away...ever.  I reached up to ensure I'd slicked back my antenna and extra ear.  Yes, they were carefully tucked away.  Maybe we should have worn the wigs. 

Tomorrow, a ride on the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad.
 

Cliff House, Mesa Verde National Park	Park Service Ranger (not the one mentioned above)
Durango & Silverton Narrow Guage RR	Durango, Colorado
Durango & Silverton Narrow Guage RR	Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Road Trip 2004 : Day 4 Cortez, Colorado to Chama, New Mexico Miles to Date:  1,256 Join the Road Trip 2004 Email List... [More]

Road Trip 2003
Sister Betty's Photo Archive