Cliff Dwellers are Awesome

Today was my choice. I let Hubby plan the whole vacation, but insisted we see Mesa Verde. Hands down, this was the best part of our trip so far.

This is a view of Cliff Palace. We took a guided tour through this site and another one. Cliff Palace was built between 1100 and 1300. The people who lived here farmed the mesa above and lived in the shelter of the alcove. Around 1300 the Cliff Dwellers moved south and their descendents are the Hopi and Pueblo Indians. In this part of the country I have found they are called "Indians" not "Native Americans".

This is a closer view from Balcony House.

This is a shot of one of the balconies from which Balcony House gets its name. The balconies were made from logs and juniper bark covered in mortar. The balconies allowed the ancient Indians to use one ladder to enter multiple upstairs rooms, instead of having a ladder for each room.

There were several ladders to climb to see these sites. The biggest one was 32 feet.

There was also an 18 inch by 2 feet tunnel that we had to crawl 12 feet through to get out of Balcony House. We all made it!

Now we are in Moab, UT.