The visitor center is actually almost an hour's drive from the center of the park where the dwellings are located and requires driving up huge hills with hairpin turns and heart pounding dropoffs. I tried not to look to the left as John negotiated the road with our 26 foot home. The kids were oblivious since they were doing their usual thing of not paying attention to what was happening outside their windows. We pulled off at a scenic overlook and had several instances of Ella being grouchy and Jack being an annoying older brother. I think I may have snapped at one or both of them at some point. This is what happens when you spend every waking moment together in tight quarters.
The tensions pass pretty quickly though because come on! There are gorgeous views to take in and interesting things to see. We hopped back into the RV and made our way to the inner sanctum of the mesa, ready to view the mysterious dwellings we'd only seen pictures of. But first we had to kill some time so we filled up the Camelback water packs and set off to view our first dwelling which was a self guided tour called Spruce Tree House. We climbed down a ladder into a dark underground room called a "kiva" which was round with low ceilings. It was a little dark, hot and creepy and we quickly climbed out since more and more people were climbing down in there with us.
On the way back up the hill a group of people sitting on a bench pointed at my "Ukrainians Are More Fun" shirt and asked me if I was from Ukraine. They were obviously from Ukraine judging by their accents so we started speaking in Ukrainian. They seemed very surprised that someone like me, born in the US and raised as an American would even speak the language. They seemed astounded to learn that we have huge communities of Ukrainians in major cities around the country.
After my brief bonding experience with the Ukrainians and a nice lunch we drove the RV to our first tour site: Balcony House. We waited for our tour next to the bickering family from Oregon and at last a nice young girl who introduced herself as Ranger Casey began the tour. She warned us that this was the most strenuous of tours since it entailed climbing up a 35 foot ladder and crawling through a tight tunnel at the very end. The mention of the tunnel freaked me out a bit since I'm borderline claustrophobic, but I looked around and saw people much bigger and/or older than me, so I figured if they could do it, so could I.
Jack and Ella decided that Ranger Casey was a snowboarder or a surfer (or both) since she seemed really mellow and used words like "gnarly" when describing certain things. We followed the group down a winding staircase and made it to the bottom of the first obstacle: the 35 foot ladder. This thing was literally running straight up the face of the cliff and you were pretty much screwed if you lost your footing. But everyone started climbing up so we waited our turn and joined in. I waited for a minute since the woman ahead of my seemed a bit unsure and clumsy. As long as you don't look down or behind you, it's really not that bad. I can't believe that no one has ever fallen off one of these things though or that you don't have to sign some type of waiver before embarking on these tours.
Balcony House was very interesting - Ranger Casey made sure to point out all the relevant details of the structures and explained why certain doorways were shaped differently than others, what a kiva was used for, etc. By the time we had to crawl through the tunnel I felt pretty good, especially when I realized that the tunnel widened in the middle so that you weren't squeezing through. Somehow John got left way behind and we had to wait for him at the very end of the last ladder. Apparently the tunnel was a bit too tight for him and he had to squeeze through sideways. Wish I'd gotten a picture of that.
We then drove to the site of our second tour which was called Cliff Palace. We still had about 45 minutes to kill so we did what we usually do when it's hot outside and we have nowhere to go - we cranked up the generator on the RV, turned on the AC and kicked back to relax. This is one of the many perks of having your house with you when traveling.
By the time we met up with our tour group for Cliff Palace it was steaming hot. Our tour guide was an older man named Ranger Kevin. His face was weathered from years in the sun and he had an intense look about him as he started describing what we would be seeing on our tour. He spent a good five minutes describing in great detail the route we would be taking across the side of the cliffs, then launched into a lecture about proper nutrition and hydration on the trail, which took about another five minutes.
It became clear as our tour progressed that Ranger Kevin was very passionate about these Pueblans who built the palace and then mysteriously vanished. Whereas our first tour consisted of a lot of climbing, walking and listening to Ranger Casey describe the gnarly trees, this tour was spent sitting for long periods in the beating down sun listening to Ranger Kevin go on and on about what he may or may not be telling us on the tour. "I could tell you about how the Pueblans built this palace, or how they lived here, or what caused them to leave, but I won't." was a typical start to one of his tangents. His language was geared toward the adults on the tour and the younger kids looked bored out of their minds and ready to pass out from the blazing sun.
Later that evening the kids and John would launch into some hilarious impersonations of Ranger Kevin, who in their minds was a cross between Chris Farley and a few other intense, sun-beaten men we know. Every five minutes or so Ranger Kevin would stop talking, bend over and put his hands on his knees. He'd stay like that long enough so that we would start wondering if he was going to keel over. Then he'd say "NOW . . . " very loudly, dramatically straighten up and launch into another long winded description of the entire family tree of the men who discovered Cliff Palace many years ago.
Don't get me wrong, Ranger Kevin was very knowledgeable and he definitely knew his Pueblan history. But it was hot, the day was getting long and we were ready to climb up the last ladder and get out of there. By the time he wrapped up his wild story about a big black snake and how it was instrumental in the flight of the Pueblan Indians we were ready to get back to our campground and soak in the pool.
Back at our campground, called Ancient Cedars, we mixed up some cocktails and went down to hang out at the pool. The pool had a gorgeous view of the mountains. John and Ella came up with some crazy throwing flips that would never be allowed at our neighborhood pool and Jack discovered the relaxing powers of the hot tub. I sipped my rum and coke and enjoyed my Bloom County book that I'd brought along on the trip for comic relief.
Another thing they had at this campground was an old school see saw. I hadn't seen one of those in years and I don't think they really make them anymore, at least not the ones I remember from childhood - a long wooden plank resting across a metal bar with two handles. I remember being a kid and the thing to do was to surprise your friend on the other end by suddenly hopping off and letting them crash down to the ground. Funny when you're ten, not so funny when you're 45 - which is why I warned Jack not to drop me when I convinced him to see saw with me. Not too many opportunities present themselves for see sawing with my teenager so I took advantage of it.
We ended the evening with a campfire under the Colorado night sky. Some of our best conversations have been around campfires. That evening turned into a hilarious discussion of Ranger Casey the gnarly snowboarder and Ranger Kevin - whose exaggerated way of speaking and bending over every five minutes resulted in some ridiculous impersonations by everyone in the family. We also went off on a tangent of who the kids' favorite adults are. I discovered that what kids really like is when adults treat them like regular people and actually talk to them and acknowledge them. There's something about a campfire that brings out the conversations you'd never have otherwise.
That was our day in Mesa Verde - definitely a memorable one.
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