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Mal Beaton
Up early to head out to Mesa Verde National Park. It is only about 20km from town and it is still quite cold (about 13C) . There is a museum at the entrance which has a lot of exhibits from digs around Mesa Verde Apparently when these people left in 1200 or 1300 they left everything behind as they had no horses etc so there was heaps of pottery footware, bits of clothing and such. You can even see in one of my photos what looks like an early ugg boot. We managed to book a Ranger guided Cliff Palace tour at 12.30. As we had a bit of time to kill it was recommended we head up to Spruce Tree House as this one can be viewed at your own pace without a tour guide. I wasn't sure what to expect but these places are amazing. Looking down on them from the top of canyon makes them look like a clay model of houses and not real. It is only the people there that gives it scale. I wont bother saying much more as the photos will speak for themselves. Driving between Spruce Tree House and Cliff Palace Karen spotted a dear having a graze just off the side of road. So far we have seen an Elk at Grand Canyon and a deer here. The bins in the park warn of bears and you have to re lock the bins once you have placed rubbish in them to prevent the bears getting into them. Heaps of chipmunks and squirrels scurrying around. While driving around the Mesa loop we saw a coyote crossing the road in front of us, looks very similar to a Dingo. He was not really in a hurry but we only managed to get a fleeting photo as he disappeared into the scrub. The ranger who gave us the guided tour of the Cliff Palace was very good and explained the history of the place and what happened to the people. We recorded the whole speech with video, might try to convert and upload later. The walk down to Cliff Palace was via some steep steps and the climb back up was a few timber ladders and some very narrow gaps in the rocks. I really enjoyed the tour with the exception of the some extremely rude people who attempt to push in front or stand in your way and dont care about holding everyone else up. You get out of breath very quick up there as it is 2500m (over7000ft) above sea level. The drive in and out is on very narrow roads with amazing views over the valleys and plains below, we got to watch a thunderstorm complete with lightning and rain move over the plains. We ended up back in downtown Cortez about 3pm. I have never seen so many pickup trucks in one town, every second vehicle is a pickup, nearly all of them had stickers stating leave our guns laws alone. I get the feeling they all like their weapons and dont like Obama out here. Back in town we found a Micro Brewery and Eatery so decided to have a few beers and a feed, stay the night and head off to Monument Valley tomorrow. The beers were good but was disappointed in my feed, I love my pork spare ribs and have had them twice on this trip. Both times I have been very disappointed, might have to wait until I get to Vegas. Walking from the brewery to the motel I noticed a 50's style (certainly looked like it had been there since then) drive-in cafe, the only things missing was waitresses in roller skates and 50/60's hotrods (Think of American Graffiti, or happy days and you will know what I mean). We stayed at a Super 8 motel which are in nearly every town we have been through. There is a reason it is very cheap (all other motels we tried where booked out), bloody noisy air conditioner and ****** beds. They are now off our list of motels. Have found Holiday Inn Express and Days Inn both good
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