Comfort Inn Cortez

... Now the view is blocked by a campervan but I can still see the mountains. What a place. Best of all is the Elmo-feeling I'm getting here: a cabin, a car, mountains, an Elmo creek nearby, a lake, it's cold outside and warm inside the house, Denny's could be the Chieftain... the only thing amiss are the men in trees. Now where's Jack?

... that were once kivas. Modern kivas are mostly used for ceremonial purposes, but Ranger Jake thought that these were probably also used for family living. They all had little firepits, and a ventilation door opening into an air shaft opposite the firepit to draw in fresh air, and a short little wall between to protect the fire from drafts from the air shaft. When the site was occupied, these kivas would have been roofed over, forming the pueblo floor ...

... face and crawl through a 12' long 3' X 18" tunnel to get out. Linda couldn't deal with the height, and Mike couldn't deal with the tunnel. Cliff Palace was WOW when you first saw it. Our tons of pictures can only suggest what these early human created. Mesa Verde is the first national park to protect the works of humankind...here is the real beginning of the pre-history of our country. After seeing the Ancestral Puebloan sites over the past week ...

... admit that these cliffs were looking very appealing compared to our dirty, hot RV parked in the RV parking lot.  Did you know that most native peoples lived in matrilineal clans?  Not sure if Tony, my brother-in-law, & Ross could hack it, but living as a Nielsen clan in a cliff dwelling has some appeal.  Throughout our time in both Mesa Verde & Canyon ...

... the evidence and areas of pit houses uncovered to date. Interesting note here about the devastating fire in 2003, although it destroyed the vegetation, with aerial photography, it has allowed images of previously undiscovered evidence of possible archaeological sites to be pin pointed. Most likely further pit houses etc. After our education about this area we proceeded back down the side of the Mesa (carefully) and back to our RV park for the evening.

... that individuals are taking donations for their own use. The wording is not able to be altered to reflect any other purpose. This is apparently creating some confusion as to what the donations are going to be used for. I am capturing donations not for my own purposes but for the Wounded Warriors Project. So please pay no attention to the wording or the PayPal links under "Support my Travels" just read it as "Support my Charity". I hope this helps resolve any confusion. Joe

... by the CCC in the 1930s and is about 75% original. The hike out of Cliff Palace had two features that did not endear themselves to Deb. First is an irregular staircase cut up through a thin channel carved in the rock. When you reach the top, you then had to ascend three ten foot ladders, with the last rising up an exposed rock face, 100 foot in the air. Deb's acrophobia was in full swing! We safely made ...

... the car! We decided to go on 3 tours guided by rangers. The rangers led us to the cliff dwellings long house, balcony house and cliff palace. These villages were built about 1000 years ago by anasazi indians (today they're called ancestral puebloans). About 800 years ago they left theis villages probably because of a drought. To get to these cliff dwellings we had to climb 10 meter long ladders, crawl through tunnels and climb the cliff. It was worth it though!

... waiting for breakfast. Still, it seemed to be more of a mismatch than anything else. But, while the décor was definitely eclectic, the food was very good. The pancake I had was large and filling. Best of all, it only cost $2 for the pancake and some bacon. All in all, it did the job of filling us up for the day ahead.<br><br>We drove the 10 miles to the Mesa Verde National Park. We were looking forward to seeing Mesa Verde. We had heard of the ...

... south. Why? Well, I wanted to visit El Rancho de las Golondrinas. Lonely Planet described this attraction as "a living-history museum that shows what life was like for Spanish settlers in the 18th and 19th centuries." But, we never got to find out if that was true or not. After a very circuitous (but well signed) drive to find the ranch, we discovered that it was only open by appointment during October. So, we had wasted about 45 minutes of our time. Anyone wishing to visit ...