Durango, Co

26 May 2010-Took a drive to Durango, Co today, about 35 miles from where we are. It is a cute little town, with a river running right thru it, and I mean running! I took this short video to show Donna and Hallie because they like this stuff.



Here is the Colorado flag, along with the license plate. I think both are sort of boring.

Both these little ones were outside my front door this morning.

So downtown we went to Durango. Stopped at the visitor's center, which is in a park right along that river I showed you in the video. There is actually a 5-mile walking/biking trail that goes along the river, and there are some historical info markers along the way.

This is information on the Ute Indians that used to dominate the area. Notice the 3 pictures that show the ever-diminishing area of land they occupied in the 4 states that constitute their original homeland.

There is a lot of rafting, biking, horseback riding, etc. in this area. They even have an all-day train ride you can take up into the most scenic parts of the area, but it takes about 8 hours, so we can't do that with Fluffy. This river is really moving quite quickly, and walking along the trail is quite pretty.

The town's reason for being is definately to cater to the tourists, but it is pretty nonetheless.

They had a little Train Museum, so we checked it out.

The mornings here start out fairly cool, around 60 when we are leaving at say 10 in the morning, but it warms up a bit as the day goes by...at about the mid-70s, so it makes for a very nice day. But let me tell you, it is the driest weather we have ever been in. I should include New Mexico in that statement also...my nose and mouth have never been so dry! Even our air conditioners are not leaking water outside like they usually do....bone dry!!!

On to Colorado

24 1/2 May 2010-Left Santa Fe, headed to Mancos, Colorado, which is in the Southwest of Colorado. Again, another beautiful drive, I just hope you are not becoming bored by the pics...I love it!



As soon as we were out of New Mexico and into Colorado we hit the Southern Ute Indian Tribe lands...there are an amazing amount of reservations in this part of the country. We saw a sign that there were Indian dances Monday thru Saturday nites, so we will have to check that out.

Check out the snow at the top of this range. The people here at the RV Park said it snowed a little here this morning, and the high was only in the 50s. Supposely tomorrow is due to be warmer, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Click on this picture to enlarge it...I wouldn't mind at all living in this valley.

This is a picture from our RV park.

And this was from my front window when we first got here. Looks like something out of Little House on the Prairie, huh?



Within an hour of me taking the above picture, another RVer came in, and look what happened to my view.

I hope this guy moves...I really liked my 1st view! Anyway, we will be here a week, so more to come.

Bandelier Nat'l Monument

24 May 2010-Yesterday was our last day in Santa Fe, so I thought I would throw in the New Mexico license plates here. The one on the right is the normal one, while the one on the left is their centennial plate...New Mexico became a state in 1912...so they are getting the jump on 2012.



We spent about 3 1/2 hours hiking in Bandelier...about 5 miles total, so between this and the mountains the day before we were pretty beat. Not as young as we used to be, as they say!

We 1st set out on the Falls Trail. If we had gone all the way down it would have actually taken us to the Rio Grande, but we decided on a shorter 3 mile round trip to the 1st waterfall...the waterfall is actually an 80 foot drop, but it doesn't look it from here. Check out the video!

Once we got back from the falls, we headed out to the Main Loop, which this paperwork says is an hour hike...but the meant one hour each way! The walk itself was much flatter than the Falls Trail, but as you will see at the end we had us some climbing to do!

This area is a National Monument because of the ruins uncovered years ago that were once the homes of the Pueblo people. These people actually not only built homes on the ground like us, but they lived in caves in the sides of the mountains and had 2-3 story homes there. I have attached the writing here because I know some people, like Ellen, like to read about it. Number 4 talks about their religious life, while 6 talks about their homes. 7 shows what the "town" would have looked like.

There goes Cathy! I deleted my picture by mistake, but you will see more of me later! haha

This cave has 3 or 4 rooms in it that Cathy is going back and forth from.

Watch your step, young lady!

Where you see the holes in the mountain would have been where the roof of their dwelling was. They had wood beams jut out from there, and then potentially another story above that, or more.

These pictures show carvings in the rocks, called petroglyphs. The 1st one is just a few circles, but the next one shows what I am pretty sure to be a fish.

This is a bit more elaborate.

Now we are getting to the serious part of the trek. To get to this Alcove House, you have to climb a series of 4, very steep, ladders. going up 140 ft.. It was a little unnerving to say the least. Several spots had warnings for people to read, but I figure I am trying not to leave anything for the "bucket list", so I gave it a try.

To the right of Cathy is the 1st ladder.

For your viewing pleasure, see the videos.

This should give you a good idea of how steep this climb was.

This is at the top of the climb, with the picture showing what it would have looked like years ago. The circle on the right side of the 1st picture is actually the entrance into an underground room.

Here is Cathy climbing into the room, and me already there. It was actually darker than it appears because of the flash of the camera.

Me outside the ceremonial room, and looking out at the valley.

Here is Cathy starting the climb down, which was much more intimidating than going up.

And look at this idiot!!!! He is carrying his little girl, maybe 5-6 years old!

After 2 days in the mountains we finally saw something other than squirrels and those bunnies. This was the only deer we saw the whole time. I saw it wiggle it's ears or we would have walked right by her.

On to Mancos, CO today...more pictures to follow! haha