Budget Host Cortez

So finally. I found the perfect house for myself. It's an all-wooden cabin, cozy and warm, situated on the KOA campground just out of town. It's the prettiest little thing ever and it's all mine. I've three windows, a porch with two benches, three beds to choose from, a table, wireless and a car. This morning I could still see the ...

... away with a new sense of comunity and our responsibility to contribute. Cliff Palace is a site that's best described in pictures (see the album for Day 1, which all the pictures I import seem to be going to). But in short, there were a series of structures built from sandstone and mortar, wedged under the arch, in what initially seems to be a bit higglety-pigglety. There are several towers, both round and square, and at least three circular stone lined ...

... explorers, Morman missionaries, or the US government.  The endurance & resiliency of the human spirit & our collective will to survive & discover is what stands out most though when you visit these places.  Take a look at these ruins which were Anasazi cliff dwellings built around 1200 AD & then mysteriously deserted around 1300. I have ...

... corn on sandstone and thus introducing sand into their diet to wear out the teeth. We continued our clamber and guided tour of the main house (150 rooms) cliff dwelling and then proceeded to the museum to enjoy another movie and wander through the well set out displays that showed depictions of the general evolution of the people from nomadic hunter gathers to the cliff dwellings we visited. A couple of loop roads on the Mesa gave a chance to ...

... I secured the domains ridewithjoe.com and wheresjoenow.com and pointed them to my account on travelpod.com. I tell you all of this to give some background to address some emails I've been getting about my donations. I am using the "Support my Travels" link to capture donations and put them into an account as I travel so that they can be passed on to The Wounded Warrior Project when I return. Unfortunately, because travelpod is the myspace for travelers it ...

... an overlook where Long House could be seen in it's entirety. We rode back to the car and then began the drive back across Wetherill Mesa and on to the site of the Cliff Palace tour. The Cliff Palace tour started like the tour of Long House, with a steep climb down to the pueblo. Cliff Palace is the largest in Mesa Verde and was thought to house as many as 160 people at its peak. Cliff Palace was partially ...

... campground. The visitors centre was amazing and gave us loads of info. Plus we found a free dumpstation for our waste and a water supply - always a bonus when you are trying to free-camp and cut costs! We found a great spot upin the National Forest behind the town of Dolores where it is fine to free camp as long as you have a pass which we do. We all had a shower in the van and a good nights sleep.

... another Lonely Planet recommendation: the Earthsong Haven. This restaurant had the oddest décor I’d ever seen. It was a combination bookstore/restaurant. I’ve been in many bookstore/coffeehouses. But, I’d never seen a full scale restaurant in a bookstore. Imagine having a table in the middle of an aisle at the local Barnes and Noble, and you have an idea of the décor at the Earthsong Haven. Granted, it was convenient to browse the books ...

... decorated, the food was superb, and the staff was tremendously helpful. Plus, its location just outside of the center of Old Town made it feel like it was out in the country. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at El Paradero, and highly recommend it for any visitor to Santa Fe. <br><br>We lingered in Old Town Santa Fe to complete our shopping. After visiting some of the shops which had been closed the evening before, we drove out of Santa Fe. Instead of heading north to Colorado, we ...