Another great day. Drove to Mesa Verde National Park via Durango (Romance in Durango?). Durango is another old gold mining town (city?) but much more attractive and laid back than Cripple Creek. Called in an internet cafe for an Americano and a piece of pecan pie! There we spoke to a girl who was training to be a teacher. We gave her lots of encouragement!
Mesa Verde was amazing. It has dotted around it the archeological remains of dwellings occupied by the Anasazi peolple dating back to 600 AD. The most spectacular of these are built into the cliffs overlooking the gorge. We decided to take a ranger led-tour of one of these. The only convenient one in terms of time was the "Balcony House" so we booked it. It then slowly dawned on us that this was described as "the most strenuous" of the tours and involved a climb up a thirty foot ladder, a crawl through a 12 foot tunnel and the ascent of a set of stone steps up the cliff "not to be recommended for anyone with a fear of heights". However, we were committed and gathered at the appropriate time. Our nerves were calmed somewhat when we saw that amongst the other intrepid individuals were two small girls and a guy with a small baby on his back! In the end it wasn't as difficult as it sounded and we accomplished it without incident.
Tomorrow we're off to Monument Valley.
Must go now, it's the second episode of Mad Men in a few minutes. What a life!
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