9 October 2016
Today started with a breakfast buffet at the lodge restaurant. You are always taking you life in your hands when doing the buffet, but this was a good one. The eggs were not rubbery and the view from the window overlooked the valley below.
About 7:45am, our tour director Holley started ushering us to the bus where we met the driver Leonard. Both were extremely competent and well versed in the culture of the area. Leonard was especially good at spotting wildlife which included a buck mule deer, turkeys, and an elk.
We first stopped at one of the earliest Pit houses, so named since they were in essence a pit dug into the ground with a roof. This was on the top of the Cuesta (Mesa Verde is misnamed, it should technically be Cuesta Verde because the whole thing slants southward).
From there we bussed to an overlook of Oak House and Mummy House. Oak because of the presence of an oak tree at the site and Mummy House because a mummified corpse was found inside the house.
We also had a pretty good view of Sun Temple from the overview and later got an up close and personal view of the place.
Next was Balcony House which we would get to tour. Drew, the temp park ranger who is in actuality an archeologist, led the tour. He was very enthusiastic about this particular tour.
First, he asked if we were up to a three story climb on a wooden ladder, then a 12 foot crawl on hands and knees through a tunnel, and then two more ladder climbs and a series of steps carved into the rock to get back to the starting point.
We all enthusiastically (some more than others) agreed we were. We were to regret the enthusiasm.
We first left the Mesa and went down by a series of concrete steps constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps to an overhang were Drew introduced us to Balcony House.
Next, was the three story ladder climb to the Balcony House itself, home to about 40 people when it was occupied.
All this, along with the extreme levitra samples free support and contribution of its employees has catapulted Kaar to its position today. Everyone is aware of the fact that browse now viagra ordination is quite a dependable way to fix ED in men. For classes longer than 45 minutes, provide canada viagra buy a five-minute classroom break for your students to get up to pass urine two or more times a night Bedwetting/Accidents occur (mainly in children). Release the pressure from the pump by pressing the sachet onto https://unica-web.com/ENGLISH/2013/pres-to-ga2013-1.html cheapest cialis a spoon.
Immediately noticeable were two large kivas or ceremonial chambers. These normally had a roof over them and the roof would be covered and plastered so you could walk on the roof of the kiva.
Drew did an excellent job of eliciting answers from the 49 hardy souls (and one 7 week old baby) who ventured this far (one person took one look at the ladder and went back up the stairs).
We contined to explore Balcony House and then came the tunnel. It was apparently built for defense after the house was constructed and you could see it would have been very effective since any enemy would have to crawl through the tunnel one at a time.
Next came another ladder.
Then came the steps carved into stone.
Lastly, there was a third ladder. Remember the native Pubelos didn’t use the ladders. It was all hand and foot climbing in the rock. The only ladders were down into the kivas through the roofs.
We all managed to make the climb and then return to the bus. The next part of the trip was the main reason for my detouring to Mesa Verde: the Cliff Palace, the largest of the cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde and the one I had studied in college.
Unfortunately, it was closed to the public but we accessed two overlooks that gave you a great bird’s eye views of Cliff Palace. It goes 90 feet back into the cliff and has 217 rooms and 23 kivas and housed perhaps over 400 men, women and children.
After bidding Holley and Leonard farewell, I started a six hour drive to Taos through some beautiful country.
I arrived at Hacienda del Sol about 6 pm and found I had chosen the Escondida room with a fireplace, heated floor tiles, and a massive bed.
Upon the recommendation of the B&B, I had dinner at Lambert’s in Taos. It was excellent.
Tomorrow, I head for Caprock Canyons in Texas.
