8.31.2011

Gunnison, Mesa Verde, Durango, and Great Sand Dunes

GO BIG OR GO HOME!  Our first BIG weekend trip remained true to this mantra as we explored two national parks, visited two historic Colorado towns, and covered 724 miles!  Mr. Cooper was along for the ride, so the Honda was once again packed to the rim and ready for some good times.  There is a lot to tell you, so let’s jump right in…

We left Pueblo around 6:30 on Friday evening with our sites on Gunnison, CO.  The drive was around 3.5 hours, so we arrived late and weary in what used to be the home and safe haven of Wyatt Earp. All was dark as we drove through the town and our site seeing in was diminished until the morning.  A short amount of wandering brought us to the Tall Texan Campground.  Just as the name suggests, this was a classy place!  We were greeted by the owner, who had definitely knocked back a few too many that evening but was still able to check us in and escort us to our camp site.  He was wearing a bright head lamp which he repeatedly shone in our eyes, apologized, forgot about, and blinded us with again.  Awkward he was, but brief as well, and we were soon tucked cozily into our tents. 

The next morning brought light and the need for coffee, so we went back in to town to quench our thirst and explore.  Not much time was allotted to this task because a 4.5 hour journey lay before us; however, we took some time to walk down the main street and get coffee from a local Fair Trade cafe, The Bean. 
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The drive from Gunnison to Mesa Verde National Park didn’t seem quite so long because of good company and an endless supply of breathtaking scenery.  Just take a look for yourself…
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A winding road through field and mountain and over lake and gorge brought us to Mesa Verde National Park.  This is the fourth World Heritage Site for the RB’s and our first in the west.  It is a National Park in the southwest of Colorado which was established to preserve the hundreds of cliff dwellings left by the Anasazi people of 550 to 1300 AD.  The history of this people and the park is very interesting and I would recommend checking out the website:  http://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm
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There are innumerable cliff dwellings within Mesa Verde—in fact, the park services predicts that there are sites yet to be discovered—but the largest and most popular site is Cliff Palace.  This dwelling, located in a crevice of a gorgeous canyon, consists of 150 rooms and 23 kivas (a sort of spiritual center for each family) and is thought to have house around 100 people.


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Accessing Cliff Palace required a small traipse down a narrow path, but nothing too strenuous.   After all, our large group made the progress slow and chock full of rest breaks.
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Our effort was rewarded as we stepped in to the lives of those that had trod before us.  The craftsmanship and utility of the architecture and lay out were mind boggling, considering the meager means with which the Anasazi worked.  Below you will see our high spirited Ranger explaining the workings of the community, which were exclusively gender driven.
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Once our tour of Cliff Palace was complete, we booked it across the park to Balcony House for our next tour.  Balcony House, also a cliff dwelling of the ancient Anasazi people, is smaller but no less impressive than Cliff Palace.   It has 40 rooms and was thought to have house 30-40 people. 
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Like it’s larger counterpart, the dwelling of Balcony House is located over a canyon; however, we had to climb up instead of down to reach this one. In fact, there was a 30+ ft ladder to lead to a recently made entrance.  Once up the ladder, we squeezed through a crack and came upon the first room of the dwelling. 
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Wide with a defined edge and plenty of seating, this room is thought to have served as a ritualistic dance hall.  Surrounding the “dance floor” are rooms which would have served as cellars and storage areas. 
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From here, we scuttled up a path of hand and foot holds dug into the rock (you can see them in the left hand picture) and through a little crawl-way (on the right) to the main living area. 
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Here were all of the homes and kivas that were occupied by the various families within the dwelling.  The picture on the right is of a kiva.  As I mentioned before, this was a spiritual place for the Anasazi people and each family had one in which they conducted their individual spiritual activities and those assigned them by the tribe. 
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After enjoying the view from Balcony House, we crawled through a maze of small doorways, climbed some sketchy stairs, and found ourselves back in present day Colorado.   
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Our final activity in Mesa Verde was a hike down Petroglyph Trail.  This trail is a mile or so hike out to the site of some ancient cave paintings.  One point that I should mention is that we found ourselves on this trail by accident.  We had only meant to walk the less than 1/2 mile trail to the cliff dwelling that Bilbo and I are posing in front of, but as luck my have it we couldn’t find the trailhead. 
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Despite the darkening skies, which had followed us all day, we decided to press on.  After all, I had been excited for this trail from the beginning.  We made it maybe halfway down the trail, through some lovely scenery, when the rain finally came.  So we turned around and headed back.
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Thankfully, so previous trailblazers had left some modern cave paintings for us to enjoy.  I think the figures may be doing the YMCA with a donkey.  Look closely to find your own interpretation.
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A bit wet and chilled we decided to bid Mesa Verde goodbye and say hello to Durango.  This little town was founded by the Denver and Rio Grande Railway to serve as a depot during the gold and silver mining booms.  It is also the home of the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway, which connected these two wealthy mining towns.  Of course, site seeing wasn’t our main agenda upon arriving in Durango.  We were in search of food! 
This search led us first to the Ska Brewery, a stop for which Mr. Cooper was extremely excited, where the guys sampled some beer.  Bilbo and Mr. Cooper said that they beer was good; however, the food menu was lacking and we moved on in search of something to fill our empty bellies.
The perfect solution was found at Steamworks Brewing Company.  It is yet another Colorado microbrewery, but is know for more than its beer.  Here we had the largest, gooiest, tastiest plate of nachos that you have ever seen!  On top of that we had margarita pizza, Mr. Cooper had fish tacos, and the guys tried their brews.  If you are ever in Durango, you should definitely stop at Steamworks…even if you, like me, don’t like beer!  The food is worth the stop and the service there was the best we’d had in a while.  GO FOR IT! 

 

That evening, we searched desperately for a campground because the sun had set.  I honestly have no idea what the name of the place we found was, but they had a good rate and we were grateful for a place to lay our heads.  The next morning brought us to downtown Durango where we saw the Durango and Silverton Railway as well as other historical sites. 
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These hotels, for instance, have been in operation since near the founding of the town and date back to the 1800’s.  There were also saloons that had been there during Durango’s glory days.
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Bilbo and Mr. Cooper ran into an old fashion saloon girl outside of an old fashioned photo shop.  Apparently Oprah and Gail have been here, too! 

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A fun morning under our belts had us on the road home—until we realized how close we were to the Great Sand Dunes National Park!  Naturally, we had to stop by for a peek at this wonder! By the way, we have no idea who that 80’s apparel wearing woman is by the sign.  She was there for a long time and therefore found her way into our picture.
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The Great Sand Dunes lie in front of the Sangre de Christo Mountains, on the western base, and are the tallest sand dunes in North America at around 750 feet. 
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Mr. Cooper described the experience of walking in the dunes as, “like being in Aladdin,” and it’s true. Even though you have mountains around you, it is easy to get lost in the vastness of the dunes. 
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Now, I hate walking in sand so after about 50 yards I decided to be the long distance photographer for Bilbo and Mr. Cooper’s trip up the dunes.  I don’t know if you can see the little bitty dots in the picture below, but if you look about halfway up you’ll see two, a little to the right, representing our fellas. 
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And there they go running down…
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I tried running down a dune a bit later and I must admit that it was fun!  However, one did soon find sand in a plethora of places.
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Even after reaching the asphalt parking lot, we had remnants of the dunes with us…
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The Great Sand Dunes National Park was a noteworthy diversion on our trip back to our home way from home and the perfect capstone to our weekend.  As always, it was a blast hanging with Mr. Cooper and enjoying God’s creation!  More adventures are to follow, so keep on reading!