Day 10, May 22

DAY 10, MAY 22

1. The motel in Cortez was shabby but cheap and the bed was clean and felt good.

2. After another breakfast at Mac's, I drove off to Mesa Verde. It's a long winding road in from the highway and they were in the process of resurfacing the roadway so it was a bit rough but paved.

3. I cruised through the camping area. There was vacancy but the sites were a bit rustic and not very pretty. Decided to pass on them.

4. Went to the visitor's center and picked up tickets for 2 tours through the cliff dwellings. 3 dollars each and led by a park ranger.

5. First tour was Balcony House. It was the most strenuous as there were several long wooden ladders to climb up, several narrow passageways to squeeze through, and a 12 foot long small tunnel to climb through. There was a father with a 2 month old boy strapped in a chest harness. I was amazed at how he was able to handle him going up the ladders and through the tunnel. I handled the trip well -- just didn't look down from the ladders. The view of the cliff dwelling was well worth the effort.

6. There were numerous other ruins and cliff dwellings to view from lookouts and paths.

7. The other tour was Cliff Palace. Not as strenuous or as impressive as Balcony House but still very interesting. There were a few shorter ladders to climb but not too bad.

8. Only saw 1 snake the whole trip. Quite a few small lizrds scurrying aroung the rocks though.

9. The wind really picked up around noon and was blowing sand all over. The sky was very dark and gloomy from all the sand in the air.

10. Checked into a RV campground just outside the Mesa Verde entrance. Too windy to set up a tent so I'll just sleep the night in the van. At least the bathroom and shower is very clean and nice. Wind is dying down around dark so may not be too bad during the night.