Saturday morning we toured the Balcony House at Mesa Verde, an old Pueblo Indian ruin right in the side of the mountain. We were told it was "the most adventurous tour" Mesa Verde offered, so we opted to take that tour over Cliff Palace, the icon of Mesa Verde. Balcony house is much smaller, but the views from the house were incredible. The first courtyard we entered was simple, it was an open space with a large wall. Then, we ha to crawl through a crack in the rock to make it to the second courtyard, where the natives lived. There was no wall on this side! But the views were so much better. Kevin and I wondered how many children went teetering off the edge and into the canyon. After this room we had to squeeze through a tiny hole and make our way up two ladders back to the top. The tour was short and sweet, but definitely worth it.
After Balcony House we make a quick stop at the Spruce Tree House. This was a self-guided "tour," that wasn't really a tour. More of a look. But we were able to go into a model kiva with a roof intact so that we could experience what it was like. Talk about a mess. Everyone wanted to go down inside of it, but no one was very good at taking turns. So, our five minute stop turned into a fifteen minute stop. At least we were able to check it out. The Spruce Tree house was pretty neat, bigger than the balcony house and had various rooms scattered throughout the hillside. Also a must see.
The plan from Mesa Verde was to book it and make it to Avon, CO for the night so we could see Val. We made it, but two hours later than we expected. The drive through Colorado is gorgeous, but slow (four speeds and mountains don't always work well together. At one point we had to pull over because it started to hail marbles. We didn't want the car to get dented or the windshield to crack, so we found a little gas station and hung out under an overhang until the hail subsided. After the storm, the temperature dropped to 50 degrees, well over half the temperature of home! Further proof we left for our trip just in time.
Our first stop was in Ouray, Colorado, "The Switzerland of Colorado." It looked more like Austria to me, but was still a cute little town. All of the old mining towns in the hills are pretty cute in Colorado.
We stopped at Ouray for a bathroom break, and found a little brewery right on main street. We stopped to sample all of their beers and pick out a couple for a birthday present. Instead of bar stools against the bar, Ouray Brewery had swings! It was pretty cute. Totally appealed to the kid in me. We got to chatting with the bartender, and it turned out she herself was from Tempe, and worked on Mill Avenue before it became so infamous. Small world.
We continued our drive to Montrose, Colorado where we stopped for lunch and figured out the next part of our drive. We decided to take US92 to US133, instead of following Google's recommendation to go through Grand Junction. Yes, it would have been faster, but we had already taken that route and wanted to see something new. So we headed on our way. About 15 miles out, though, we started second guessing our decision to skip over Black Canyon of the Gunnison. We looked up how close were actually were to it (15 miles) and decided to turn around a check it out. We didn't have a lot of time to stop, but we could check it off of our list.
Well, after seeing it, it might be worth a second look at a later time. We definitely weren't expecting what we saw. The views were amazing, the rocks seemed like that just jutted straight up from the ground. It was like a mini Grand Canyon mixed with Colorado National Monument times 1,000. I would love to go back at another time and hike down to the river, just to look up at all the rocks.
We didn't stop again until Avon, and made it around 8 pm. It was great to see Val, and the three of us went to Vail to watch some cougars (who looked my age) pry on some cubs. Oh what money can make you look like. We got to shoot some pool and enjoy the Vail night life. At least the summer edition. The plan is to return in a week so we can spend more time with Val.
The rest of the trip wasn't terribly interesting. Nebraska is boring to drive through, so I was able to finish my first novel of the summer (The Memory Keeper's Daughter, I would highly recommend it). But there was NOTHING to see until Lincoln. We didn't even bother to stop until we got to Iowa. We stayed the next night in a little Days Inn right outside of Des Moines.
Yesterday's drive was a short and sweet one. Four hours. And now we are in Woodbury until tonight or tomorrow morning, until we head on up to the cabin. Kevin and his mom are at work and his dad is already at the cabin, so I'm taking the time to enjoy the weather. I'm just sitting on the patio, writing this and looking out on the lake. Something definitely not possible in July in Arizona.
I probably wont post again until our trip home, but I'll make sure to include one of our time in Minnesota.
More later.
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