On the Road Again!

START :       Cortez, Utah          TODAY:           234  Miles

END:            Alamosa, CO         TOTAL:        4,271  Miles

CAMPGROUND:     Great Sand Dunes RV

Ron registered for a ranger-led tour of the Cliff Palace dwelling.  I stayed at the trailer, cleaned a little then worked on the slide show of this trip.  Ron came back tired, but stoked from his morning adventure. 

Oddly the photos make these structures look like a clay model.  It is only with people in the photos that you can

understand the scale of the cliff dwellings.


Although it still seems out of place because the people of the 1200s were much shorter. 


 The round Kivas were gathering spaces with ventilation shafts to ground level and access to adjacent Kivas.

 The doorways were small and off the ground, but show remarkable stone work.  In this dwelling the tower building was three stories of living space.  The interior walls were plastered and some of the original floor timbers remain. 

A few samples of wall art are still preserved.

The Pueblo People used ladders within their dwellings, but climbed over the ledge to reach the Mesa above.  The National Parks have provided steps and ladders to traverse the 120 feet. 

A pleasant surprise, as we left the park, was a visit from the local deer—actually I guess we were visiting them. 

We passed through small rural farming towns as we traveled ESE along US 160.  We drove by the sign before it registered that we passed the Continental Divide again in the San Juan Mountains.

 Coming into Alamosa we crossed the Rio Grande River.  Both of us felt it was time to stop for the day so we settled into our campsite, glad to have strong wifi for blogging, and ice for a gin and tonic.

Tomorrow we head North to Great Sand Dunes National Park.