Durango, Chimney Rock, and Mesa Verde

On the way to Bayfield CO we passed the Continental Divide. Whoop, whoop. Here is the picture to prove it.

Having grown up in the 50's and 60's I was a huge western fan. The Duke, if you don't know who that is shame on you, was my hero and movies like Eldorado, Gun fight at the OK Corral and Tombstone were what I watched growing up. So I am very excited about this portion of our trip. Well, West world it ain't. Although there are a lot of buildings from that era, time has not stood still, and the streets aren't dirt and gun fights don't break out at high noon, well not in Durango CO anyway. I can say that Tombstone AZ is very cool, but that is a future post.

Now that does not mean that I didn't like Durango, I did. Good restaurants, unique shops and a nice river walk. The people were nice and friendly and the weather was great. I'd go back, but the wild west it isn't.

Lynn made a friend.

Beautiful building built in 1887 and still in use today. 

 One of our side trips was to Chimney Rock National Monument. This is the site of Pueblo ruins in a very remote area. We were able to take a guided tour which got us as close to the Chimney as you can get. This is a new national monument created in 2012 and the volunteers give a good talk concerning the ruins and excavations which go back to the year 600.

The really big Kiva. Note the stairs. The local indians have ceremonies here. 

The stone work is amazing. 

Pit house

They think the side rooms were for storage. No entry from the pit house itself. 

The climb up to the higher village where the main buildings are goes up about 200' in elevation. So you end up around 7600 feet above sea level. After this little trip I was feeling the effects of altitude sickness. Nothing major but I wasn't feeling all that great for a couple of days.

But the views were great. 

I love the colors and twisting of the wood. 

Once we were at the top we were again surprised by the stone work. As with a lot of the ruins that you find they have assumed that the alignment of the structures with the sun and other landmarks relates to the vernal and autumnal equinox. This of course relates to the seasons and planting of crops. All that being said, the views and ruins were very cool.

Again the stone work was unbelievable. 

Chimney Rock

Multiple rooms within the larger structure. 

If you're in the area it is worth a stop, but the must see is Mesa Verde. This is home to the famous "Cliff Palace". I believe it is listed as one of the must see places in the world, but what you might not know is that there are numerous sites just as fascinating within this park. In fact there are over 600 different cliff dwellings and 4000 archaeological sites within the park. Another interesting fact is that this is the only National Park that is a cultural National Park that is preserving ancient ruins.  

By the way they reached these by climbing down using foot and hand holds that they chipped into the cliff face. They also believe they used some ladders. 

The valley that the cliff dwellings are in. 

A sculpture showing how they climbed down to their homes. Note the basket attached by a strap to the head. Yep that's how they brought everything down. 

An excavated pit house dating to 700. 

Cliff Palace from the other side of the valley. 

Now this next group of pictures is not the Cliff Palace. This is Spruce Tree House. An easy walk across a valley. No admission and you can get up close and personal. They also have a Kiva that they finished and you can go down inside of it. Very cool. 

Spruce Tree House from across the valley. 

Key hole door way. Very Aztec in design. 

The ladder leads down into the Kiva. 

Is this close enough for you?

Now that you have seen what some consider the lesser ruins let us take a look at Cliff Palace. The ranger that guided us on our tour was a real story teller. He made the site come to life talking about the people, conditions and lifestyle. If the facts weren't known, then he gave us different possibilities of what might of happen. We couldn't thank him enough.

 This is part of the trail down to the ruins. Make by CCC, (Civilian Conservation Corps) to make the site accessible to the general public.

The view when we rounded a corner on the way down.  

 One of the many Kiva's at the site.

 They think that the walls and tower went all the way up to the stone roof. Below you can see the upper rooms at the roof line. Not real big so they think it was for storage.

Lynn couldn't keep the smile off of her face. Then again neither could I. 

 These two taken on the way down the trail. 

 Absolutely beautiful.

The required selfie. 

 Looking back at the whole site. They estimate that 100 people lived here in the 150 rooms and 23 kiva's.

 Neighbors across the valley. 

These hand and foot holds date back to around 1190 CE. How many ancient Pueblo peoples put their hands and feet in them not to mention all the tourists and scientists. 

You need to make the time to come visit these ruins. The whole park is beautiful and full of questions about these ancient people. Why live in the cliffs, why did they leave, and where did they go?

Well the next stop is Albuquerque NM.  Primarily to have some work done on the RV and have some down time. We were pretty busy here, we need a break.

See you down the road. 

A family visit and Rocky Mountain National Park

September 8th we arrived at St. Vrain State Park in Longmont Colorado. I recommend this park if you are in the area. Nice open sites and the price was right. We stopped here for two reasons. To visit Lynn's brother and his sons family and a visit with a Sheboyganite who now lives in the area. Oh, and Rocky Mountain National Park along with Estes Park.

Our view in St. Vrain Park

The Rockies in the distance.

Our first night in town we Tripadvisor'd local restaurants and found a gem. Not only good food and local brews but an interesting decor.

Wine bottle chandelier. 

And a spoon Chandelier. 

 The visits with family and friends were fabulous. It's great having local people who can show you around. It saves a lot of research for us. One of the highlights was the Leanin' Tree Museum and Sculpture Garden of Western Art. You may know them from their greeting cards.  The outdoor sculpture garden is magnificent.

The detail is amazing. 

The Museum consists of Bronze Sculptures and an art gallery.

After the Museum we went to Celestial Seasonings factory where you can take a tour and sample tea. No pictures as the aroma's were the highlights of the tour. Especially the peppermint storage room which they have to keep closed because of possible contamination with the other herbs. It's just down the block from the museum so it makes for a good twofer. 

The best part of our stay there, other then the friends and family of course, was Rocky Mountain National Park. Just start listing all of the superlatives that you can think of and you are describing this park. The vistas were unending, the mountains majestic, and the people were wonderful. 

People you say, well yes the people. You see we picked up some hitchhikers. WHAT? Well they had a sign that said "We promise we won't murder you." How can you not pick them up when they have a sign like that, enough said. They were three young men who were out hiking, got cut off by weather, and were trying to make it back to the other side of the mountain range so they could go home. Three really great young men on a grand adventure. If I were 20 years younger, yada yada yada. Enjoy. 

Panoramic view of the Rockies.

This is where the boys hiked. Just to the right of the pointy peak to the left of center they came down there past two lakes. Down the valley to the bottom. Then off to the left because of the storm. That's where we picked them up. 

The boys. 

An added bonus on our trip to the Rockies  is the town of Estes Park. A really nice town with your usual assortment of shops and restaurants, but the added bonus was the Stanley Hotel. It is interesting to us because of friend of ours is married to one of the ghost hunters on TAPS. It is, according to their posts, one of their favorite places. So it was kind of cool to visit it. Plus it is a cool looking hotel. 

The Stanley, one of the most haunted places in the US

 I love how the pictures at the top of the first landing reflect in the mirrors on the wall. Very eerie.

Nice architectural detail.

Yep that is a Stanley. 

Nice outdoor patio landscaping. 

Well that's it for Colorado. On our way out of town we passed Mile high stadium. So here is the obligatory pictures. 

Next stop, Bayfield Riverside RV Park. near Durango Co.