Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Day 3 - Taos, NM. to Mesa Verde, CO.

We drove from Taos and stopped at the 
Rio Grand Gorge Bridge...

Just a note... Kenneth had a list of animals he said he wanted to be able to see while on this trip:
  1. Antelope 
  2. Big Horn Sheep, (which I thought was impossible they are so hard to find)
  3. Deer
  4. Prairie Dogs
  5. Elk, not sure about this one either.
  6. Bear, again, never going to happen.
So as we pull in to park to go look at the bridge, 
I see this... About 50' in front of us.












OK, check another one off the list.






More people saw them so they started heading down into the canyon...

As we drove on we a couple miles we came to...


they were working on two new houses,
go to Earthship to find out more about them.
Very cool, they are completely off grid.


built out of recycled materiel's; bottle,cans, tires...











they have Passive Solar where they grow
their gardens...








and we're driving...










ran into rain and the temperature was cooler,
so we stopped at an Information Center in Pagosa Springs, CO.  As we pulled into the parking lot we saw these guys practicing running the rapids. i guess if your in the water and wet anyway is doesn't matter if its raining.








Chimney Rock


Mesa Verde Visitors Center






Cliff Palace





the ladder going down...






the ladder at the other end where you climb back up...



here we go...
Down was easy.




















no improvements made here, 
this is originally how they built it


going back up...



foot hole in the wall from the original Navajos


We had to climb up the stairs and then 3 - 16' ladders
to get back out, I have to say, that 3rd ladder was 
harder on me than I thought it would be.

Then we drove around to get a picture of the other 
Cliff Dwelling which you can tour, BUT...





the Lodge which overlooks the canyon...



the most beautiful sunset of the entire trip.

Day 4 - we drive the San Juan Skyway

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