This small park contains ruins of a large complex that was built 800-1000 years ago. Much of the original structure remains - including original ceilings and window coverings - and you can even walk through some of the rooms. It was a short self-guided tour and they give you a big booklet with some information at various points. I was narrating and while I was (mostly) reading from the materials, I don't think they believed me. For good reason - I did tell them that one of the ceremonial Kivas was their group toilet.
After this we ended up at Four Corners National Monument. The site is pretty small and I had heard mixed reviews about it but it was fine for what it was. The scenery around there was nice and the monument itself was reasonably well done. They also had many Native American vendors but it was organized with each vendor in a booth so it wasn't like it was a pressure sale. We did find a couple neat pieces of local art that we'll be displaying at home soon. The only questionable thing I saw was one vendor with a Washington Redskins hat. Was he being ironic? Was the team name a source of pride? Did he just like bad football? I was pretty confused.
Our final stop of the day was Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. This is the park with the cliff dwellings and like Meteor Crater, I had been fascinated ever since reading about it as a kid. (Side note: Did I have a Southwest Time-Life book or something? I don't know how I got so fascinated with this area of the country.) The only problem was to see the better dwellings, you had to get a tour ticket and they go on sale two days prior so they can sell out. We showed up and while there wasn't much left, we did manage to get the tour I wanted all along.
We had a couple hours to kill so we drove up towards the mesa and as usual with the parks, the scenery was great. There were great mountain and valley views from over 8,000 feet up. We also got to see a canyon where you could see some of the cliff dwellings across from us. After that, we got to our tour location and waited.
When we signed up for the tour, they warned that there is a narrow tunnel to crawl through and a 32-foot ladder to climb. The dwelling is below where we started the tour so you have to climb down a bunch of stairs and then climb the ladder into the dwelling. That sounded fine and since I had researched this, everyone knew what we were in for. That said, when the ranger spoke to the group, he said the tunnel to crawl through was on the width of a ranger's hat and the first ladder was 32-feet and then there were two other smaller ones coming out of the dwelling. I think Jess and Jen were getting a little bit nervous but it really set in when we went down the stairs and saw the ladder.
In the picture I saw online, it looked kind of tall but the angle wasn't that steep so it didn't seem bad. However, it was taller than we all thought and was pretty steep climbing out. We waited our turn and watched a lot of other people go and thankfully, we all made it up (though it might have been touch-and-go for a minute). Truthfully, it looked worse from the ground but it certainly was longer than I had imagined.
The dwelling itself was really cool to be in. We saw a couple rooms and finally crawled through the very narrow tunnel, which was very small but this is where Jess and I being small (well, average size for Ancient Puebloans) came in handy. We did have to climb two decent sized ladders out and use footholds to make our way up a steep, smooth rock. We all made it and at the end, everyone was glad they did it.
We ended the day going to a Mexican restaurant and then turning in early. This may be the last post for a day (or more) since the internet connection at the Grand Canyon may be pretty spotty.
As the Anasazi say, "Don't call us that." Note: The Ancestral Puebloans never said that, but their descendants did.
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