Durango to Cortez with Mesa Verde in Between

 

These icecreams were a very sweet treat after our visit to Mesa Verde.  They come from a store called Stone Cold Creamery in Cortez.  Decadent and just what was needed after an early rise today to make the trip from Durango to Mesa Verde. 

We set out early so as not to miss our guided tour of the cliff dwellings.  It takes a while to wend your way into the park and signposting is not very helpful.  I suspect if you are later into the park you might be given a map and directions but knowing that it took over an hour to get to Cliff Palace from the entrance meant that we were there before the gate folk.

We are staying tonight in the Retro Inn in Cortez which is really cute - each room is themed on the year of the room number.  So we are in Room 1977 and we have John Travolta on the wall as well as the BeeGees. Very colourful and lots of fun.  The dining room is American 50's themed.  Elvis sits out the front and doesn't mind old birds being over familiar with him.

Mesa Verde is set in another stunning bit of Colorado countryside.  The park history can be seen at this link.  We wound our way up to the top of the Mesa before finding the building sites, carved into canyon walls.

Dan is emerging from the narrow ladder exit.  I've tried to capture the tightness of some of the paths into and around the Cliff Palace site that we toured today.  Very beautiful and very awe-inspiring.  Homes for Ancestral Puebloans - the imagination is needed to think about the hardships of their lives and respect for these ancient people who carved and bricked their way into rocks to create safe homes.

Chinks between the stones prevent the mortar oozing out while setting.   Kivas (family spaces) were built up using rocks and mortar over a number of years to create this whole "palace".

Yes - that is Dan with my Google knapsack!  

Our ranger was a very knowledgeable lady with a wry sense of humour and a lot of respect for the site.

Leaving and exploring

Today we left Westcliffe, sadly, and drove northwards then South to make our way to the West side of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. We have been this way before but then turned south-westward through the mountains with Durango as our destination.

We made our way through gorges and tunnels and mountain passes - stunning countryside! 

A five hour drive with a break for lunch and a climb up to Chimney Rock - a national monument, not for the faint- hearted! 

Along ridges and up a stony path. Those of you who know me will understand that I kept my eyes on the rocks and not on the cliff edges as we inched our way up. We were hot and sweaty and afraid of falling 😂. 

Some spectacular country seen today on the drive and ski fields without snow but suffice to say we were high enough for them!   We spent the night in a seedy motel in Durango and had an early start in the morning to reach the Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings.

"Custer County"

 Despite its name, this area is very appealing.

Today we went out and about, driving through to Lake Isabel which was about an hour from the Westcliffe home. Lake Isabel is a camping and fishing attraction.  

We also stopped at the Isabel Lake Lodge there, as we had read on the internet that they are open Thursdays - check their hours as they vary. We bought a cold Dr Pepper, and then after hearing from a helpful server, traveled on to Pueblo (another 45 minutes) to look at the Pueblo River Walk which is in the centre of town and incorporates part of the Arkansas River, which the town considers its lifeblood.

The riverwalk is very pretty and I can imagine may be a community hub at times but today was just too hot for us Taupo people - at 36 degrees and rising at 12pm. However, we walked the walk as we had to prove ourselves against some Aussies we met who were taking shade under a bridge. There are sculptures and fountains and waterfalls here but not a lot of energy from us for lingering in the sun. 

We then drove back to the lodge (about 50 minutes) and had a late lunch. There is quite a nice shop attached if you want to buy tee shirts and sweatshirts or mementos. The Lodge provided a very respectable menu - hot spinach and artichoke dip with celery, carrots, and corn chips kept us from getting too hungry and the mains had a lot of variety and were tasty as well!

Well fed, we meandered our way home, stopping at Rosita which is a mining ghost town but didn't look too “ghost” as there were plenty of modern houses around. I did take this picture of the only dilapidated building I saw, so I think this is where the ghost lives.

Westcliffe

We were up early the next day to have a practice run at a walk in the Sangre de Cristo mountains.  The height above sea level of my brother's mountain house is 9990 feet - or to us metric folk  - 3045 meters, and so oxygen is a little thinner. We had ambitiously thought that we could manage a 10km hike here,  to some waterfall in the mountains and my brother decided to put me to the test.  We set out without having breakfast first and did a 3.5 km loop up the Venable Trail.  After climbing for a while I began to feel nauseous and realised I would need to become acclimatised first and also have some breakfast before I thought of going places.  Needless to say, we did not go further afield.

 My brother on the trail ahead.

If there is peace on earth I am sure it is here. A beautiful house in the mountains with trails emanating outward along the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains and views eastward to the Wet Mountains, it is unrivaled in any locale that gives me a sense of peace and contentment with my place on the earth. There is a certain reminiscence of my upbringing at National Park here - a sense of the untouchable isolation and beauty of nature.

Alpacas at Willow Wind Farm

We had a very educational visit to a local Alpaca farm just down the road from my brother’s house. Annie was our host and she knows her stuff. She breeds alpacas, llamas, merino sheep and goats and her passion is for the alpacas. We learnt heaps about alpaca fibre, how it is shorn, and how it has full medullation so is extremely warm. The fibre can then be blended with a variety of other fibres depending on the needs of the end product. I bought some yarns for knitting (different blended varieties) and socks, plus a little soap that she makes from goat's milk. The products from the farm may be purchased at willowwindgoods.com. They are carefully labelled with the blend-mix as well as the alpaca name that the product was derived from. Very soft and warm products.

The llamas and alpacas all have their own personalities shining through, and Annie knows the names and the temperaments of all her 150+ animals well. Here are some of my favourite shots of them.  

And we can't forget the rooster who rules the flock!

The Royal Gorge Train Ride

Back in 2008, at the end of a road trip through New Mexico, Dan and I stood at the top of the Royal Gorge looking down.  It is the highest bridge in the USA standing 955 feet or 291m above the bottom of the gorge and crosses the Arkansas River which flows through Colorado.  Today we joined Terry and Nita on the train ride at the bottom of that gorge and looked up at the bridge.  

Looking up at the bridge from the train.

Viewing from the open air carriage

We went first class in the dome carriage and had a 3-course meal (photos below) with a little (of course) prosecco.

This is a beautiful trip, about 2 hours of gobsmacking Colorado rock and river.  A real luxury that we were lucky to share with Terry and Nita who had wanted to do the ride and thought we might enjoy as well. 

I felt like a very lucky person, the gentle breezes in the perfect temperatures outside, wafting my skirt to Marilyn Munroe heights, without the beautiful view of Marilyn's buttocks. You know that state of euphoria you get into when everything is perfect?

The food was good, the service was right.  Try this ride if you'd like a little luxury for a couple of hours.  For mains, I had the salmon, with pesto and quinoa, while Dan had buffalo short ribs.  

We drove home to some evening rain in the mountains.  It is pretty usual in summer here for the hot days to produce thunderstormy evenings.  After our big meals and drinking we dived into quesadillas and guacamole with a little more liquid lubrication.

A perfect day.