Santa Fe to Mesa Verde

Stephen didn't sleep well in Santa Fe, so I let him lie in bed dozing a little later in the morning whilst I dd a bit of internet surfing to research further where we were going next. It was just as well I did! We were going to Taos Pueblo to see the fantastic old Native American village, which are still inhabited to to this day. There are quite strict rules that must be followed and I wanted to make sure that I knew what these were. I got to the home page of the Taos Pueblo and discovered that it was closed for 10 weeks for Ceremonial festivities. It would have been a LONG detour to go there and find we couldn't go in!

It was a long driving day as it was. About 5 hours driving from Santa Fe to Mesa Verde which was our next stop on the tour. We passed through some varied landscape. From the brown desert around Santa Fe through the snow as we entered Colorado and into the mountains. The journey probably took a lot longer than 5 hours as we were constantly stopping the car and jumping out to admire the view! We stopped at a great place called Echo place where water had eroded the cliff and created a giant echo chamber. There was no noise other than the rustle of the trees, the occasional bird and Stephen yelling "Hellooo"...helloo...helloo as it echoed round the chamber.

The towns we passed through were barely worthy of the name town. These were tiny settlements of a few houses. This made finding somewhere to eat rather tricky as there weren't any restaurants or stores either. Finally we see a sign which promised civilisation at Pagoda Springs...McDonalds 50 miles ahead! For the second time in a year I have eaten McDonalds...and when you're starving (it was 2:30pm by this time), it doesn't taste half bad!

We stopped in Durango for a quick walk around and an ice cream from Coldstones. It was a really charming little town - all Victorian buildings and saloons. It has a narrow gauge railway too, and its supposed to be the most scenic railway journey in the US if you ever get the chance to visit in the summer when it runs.

We got to Sundance Bear Lodge about 5pm and were greeted loudly by Chester and Oreo - the two doggies of the owners who were out. They were off collecting friends from Durango and left us a note to make ourselves at home in the Log Cabin which we'd booked. Yes - a log cabin! This was a great chance to live out any Calamity Jane fantasies!! Thankfully this was more like her cabin after the makeover!! It was really homely and well tricked out. Sue had turned on the fire and the electric blanket and it was all toasty.

We had a little explore and then prepared for the main event. Sunset over Mesa Verde. We got some great photos - Stephen more than me as my camera batteries died just as it was getting interesting and I had to rush to change them. D'oh!!

As we'd eaten late we weren't really hungry. The cabin was self-catering but we'd not seen a shop to pick anything up so we headed for the car with the intention of driving to Cortez which was the nearest big town. We got 10 minutes along the road and decided to turn back to Mancos (the nearest 2 horse town!) and find the local bar. And it was a local bar!! Formica tables and chairs, pool tables and a momentary silence when we walked in! They served pizza and beer and one of the locals (the 2nd grade schoolteacher) came for a chat.

Then it was back to the cabin to bed as we were both exhausted. We're experiencing the benefits of fresh air and exercise on this trip. Neither of us can stay awake past 10pm, and we're often in bed long before that!