OCT 29, Friday, to Cortez Colorado.
We left Moab at 10:15 and arrived in Cortez Colorado at 12:10 pm.! We drove south on Hwy 191 and stopped in Monticello for coffee which wasn’t all that great. Here, we turned on 491 and soon reached Colorado. The scenery was mainly farmlands and ranching. The road was fairly flat too with a few curves and ups and downs.
Cortez is a typical American small town, quaint but quiet. We found Sundance RV Park on hwy 160 on the East side of town, paid our dues and set up.
We took a drive to the Info Centre and got some information on the area then headed North on 145 to the Anasazi Museum near Dolores. It was a very neat museum with a short hike up this hill with old ruins from an Indian Pueblo. We took a few pictures inside the museum and in the surrounding views.
We came home where I BBQ’ed a huge steak for dinner, good enough for both of us, salad and buns (not Val’s)
N 37* 20.849
W 108* 34.433
Alt: 6162 Feet
We drove 112 miles (180 KM) in 2 hrs @ 52 MPH average. It is 55*F (14*C) at 7 pm
OCT 30, Saturday, to Mesa Verde (Green Table)
Another day of fantastic sceneries! And very warm too which made it all the more pleasant. The Park entrance is 9 miles from town then after going through the gate, we had to drive another 20 miles to the top of the Mesa. We zigged then we zagged and after a 2400 feet climb to 8400 feet, we arrived at the top. We first went to the Museum as the Lodge was closed. There, we bought tickets to see the Palace Cliff Dwellings which is a guided tour. Since we had time, we first went down to the Spruce Tree Dwellings which was a short walk from the museum. Took some pictures then we walked back up and watched a movie on Mesa Verde history and then walked through the museum. By then it was time to make our way to the Cliff Palace. We had a short drive and waited for our guide and tour at 1 pm. Tim was his name and he was interesting and humorous. First we went down along the cliff between huge rocks on steps built in the rocks, and to come back up, we had to go up 3 sets of ladders. It was very interesting and fun. It was called Palace not because of the size of the dwellings but because a rancher back in the 1880 called it like that and it stuck. We saw a painting inside a house/dwelling which dated back to 1200 AD, WOW!
We then took a drive around the Mesa Top loop and saw more old Kiva, (original houses dug in the ground and covered), Pueblo and finally the sun temple where I ran out of batteries on the camera. By this time, it was 4 pm and we both had enough so I drove back down. What a view of the Montezuma Valley and Cortez; hardly used the brakes thanks to the Exhaust brake. We couldn’t go to the Wetherill Mesa as it is closed for the winter; too bad because it’s also supposed to be quite something to see. We walked around in short sleeve all day and could have worn shorts!
For dinner, we went out to a small mom & pop restaurant next door and had their special...Prime roast!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!!
OCT 31, Cortez
This has been a quiet day. It was sunny but a bit cool! Val did laundry this morning then, in the afternoon, we went geo-caching. That also took us to Dolores, about 15 minutes from here, where we found our last cache and visited the “Galloping Goose”, an old train made from a truck. There were four of them, one being a bus. (Check out the pictures). I have also uploaded the pictures from our trip to Mesa Grande in folder #66.
On the way back, we stopped at a local pub and watched football for about an hour then came home and I BBQ’ed pork-chops!
Tomorrow, we move to Arizona via the 4 corners and Monument Valley!
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