Colorado (Part 2)

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An overnight stay in a town wouldn't be compete without a bonkers breakfast and Starvin Arvins really hit the spot. For the record we both agreed that the warm, freshly baked cinnamon roll was the most delicious thing either of us had ever eaten!



After we were rolled out of the door we headed on to the town of Ridgway, named after it's tea loving English founder (Stu you must look into this, might have been a relative of yours!)


A brief nosey around the train museum later to make the most of the A/C prompted the discovery of a postcard for the road we were going to take, the Million Dollar Highway. This treacherous road takes in several mountain passes, the scenic towns of Ouray and Silverton, and would be the most efficient route towards Mesa Verde.

This highway reportedly got its name for all of the 3 following reasons:
1. It cost a million dollars to construct 
2. For the million dollar views 
3. Most drivers, when asked, stated "I wouldn't drive that again for a million dollars!" 



After passing through many more abandoned mining areas we made it to Mesa Verde, just in time to hide from another thunderstorm and to narrowly miss a glorious sunset. 
 



The next day we headed back up onto the Mesa to finish our explorations from the previous day. First up was a guided tour of Balcony House, this involved lots of steep ladders, sudden cliff edges and a very tight squeeze through a rock tunnel. 



The ranger gave us a wonderful insight into the daily lives of the ancestral puebloans and we left with a renewed respect for these inventive and resilient people.



Up next was a tour of the cliff Palace, guided by an extremely enthusiastic intern. Happily this tour didn't have any tight tunnel squeezes and far fewer ladders. 





With the heat increasing we toured the rest of the area, marvelling at multitudes of cliff dwellings, ceremonial Kivas and the Sun Temple - sadly never completed before the area was abandoned around 800 years ago. 



The sight of a large coyote howling at the impending thunderstorm was an amazing spectacle and we left Mesa Verde with some reluctance. 

Headed west we encountered the rest of the storm and the torrential rain, low sun and ginormous rainbows made driving conditions challenging, but did do a wonderful job of cleaning the van.


Passing through farmland with herds of deer "boing-ing" past we slowly made our way towards a river. A friendly wave at a truck to say thanks for pulling up so we didn't have to reverse left us very surprised as about 9 topless men all gave a cheery wave back! As we pulled into the campsite the storm caught up with us again, too hungry to be deterred we bravely (foolishly?) cooked our dinner at the covered picnic bench whilst thunder boomed and lightning lit up the campsite. 

To fit with tradition it was again the case that our last night in a state ended with a storm - although this one was the biggest so far!

Next Post: Utah part 1

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