Mesa Verde

I'm supposed to be camping somewhere in New Mexico right now. Instead I only made it about 60 miles, a small trek from Durango to Cortez, Colorado. The culprit? A little national park called Monte Verde, where I ended up spending most of the day. True to its name, Mesa Verde is a large, lush mesa in southwestern Colorado. But you don't visit Mesa Verde for the scenery. You visit because to check out the ancient cliff dwellings of the Puebleans.

The ruins are amazing and it's easy to wander around for a full day. There's one house that you can explore on your own and two others that can only be accessed with a NPS guide. They've even got a two mile hike out to some petroglyphs (quick note about them: they're quite uninspiring. So much so that I didn't mind blocking half of them with my ugly mug. In fact I originally walked right past them on my hike). The guided hikes highlighted the day. Most impressive is the Balcony House. The entrance is an interesting 35 foot ladder climb up and the climb out is even more tricky. Once actually up in the ruins, it's hard to imagine living life on the edge like that. It's really an awesome experience all around and my small detour into the park quickly turned into an all day event. You can check out all of my pictures over here.

So I pulled into Cortez around 7:45pm tonight. And with the forecast including both a tornado warning and a snow advisory I decided I'd enjoy life a little more if I stayed in a motel. Am I a bit of a wuss? Probably. But I'll wake up tomorrow morning warm, not covered in snow, and ready to make my way down to New Mexico.

Oh, and I almost forgot about the highlight of the evening. After checking into my Econo-Lodge I meandered downtown and ended up at the Main Street Brewery: another place to try a local drink and watch some basketball. As I perused the appetizer menu I was shocked to see the world famous Rocky Mountain Oyster. After confirming that it was indeed authentic I was compelled to complete my Colorado experience by trying some. I won't go into too many details, but the final verdict is that it's okay. It doesn't taste like chicken (like the bartender claimed), but it was completely edible. However, I'm not sure I'll be having it again. I think I'd rather have chicken...