July 21 Mesa Verde

We got up early this morning after a good night's sleep and went to breakfast.  I have to say this was one of the skimpiest breakfasts we have ever had at a B & B.  We brushed teeth and then headed out through Cortez to Mesa Verde for the day.  On the way, nine police cars with sirens passed us going the other way - not sure what the emergency was, but the whole police force was heading for it.  We got to Mesa Verde and I signed us up for the 1 PM Cliff Palace ranger tour.  Since we had plenty of time, we went to the museum to watch the introductory movie and then took the cliff loop and stopped several times to look at pit houses on top of the mesa and views of cliff houses across the canyon.  We drove back to the museum for an early lunch (and to make up for the skimpy breakfast) and then headed down a different road to Cliff Palace.  We had a great tour - climbed four ladders, got up close and personal to the cliff dwellings, peered into kivas and poked our heads into a tower with pictographs overhead.  On the way out, the ranger showed us a series of hand and foot holds that the Anasazi used to climb up to the mesa to tend their crops.  I was happy to have a ladder!  It started to rain as we were coming down and we saw plenty of lightning and heard thunder.  I was glad that we were able to get a relatively early tour time.  I would not like to be on a tour during a thunder storm.  We are now in Cortez, sitting outside of a restaurant, doing the blog and waiting until it is close to dinner time to eat before we go back to the B & B.  Dave is listening to the radio and has his eyes closed and the girls are playing a card game in the back seat while I am writing this blog post.  Since we have a better connection here using the hotspot, I may try to put pix up for yesterday and today.  Happy Birthday, Lolo!!