2011-05-04--05: Taos, Santa Fe and Los Alamos

Taos

From Mesa Verde we decided to go to Taos, where Mats had been before and remember it as an old charming city with a lot of genuine stores selling indian made art .

It is still a charming place with a lot of atmosphere, but you get a feeling that a lot of hippies fell in love with the place and have stayed there and are now driving much of the business.














The shops with indian art are way to "touristic" for our taste.

Dried red chilli

We are still happy that we visited Taos, it is a special place and it still has a lot of athmosphere.

















Santa Fe

We arrived to Santa Fe in the evening, and stayed over night in very nice camping in the Santa Fe forest just 15 minutes drive from town. Santa Fe was just like Mats remembered it. 

Santa Fe is friendly, charming and with a lot of genuine native culture.

In the main square native craftmen (and women) sell their work. There are really a lot of beautiful things, and we took the opportunity to buy some gifts.
 

 Los Alamos

After Santa Fe we went to Los Alamos, where Mats spent some time 40 years ago. The mission was to find the school (Los Alamos Junior High School) and the house we lived in. It was 50% successful - we found the school, but unfortunately we had the wrong address for the house. After a nice chat with one of the teachers, we continued to Bandelier National Park.

2011-05-02--03: Mesa Verde

We are so lucky! The weather is fantastic and the sun is shining more or less all the time. The temperature is perfect for sightseeing and exploring new things.

We arrived to Cortez in south-west  Colorado late afternoon, and after checking in at a very good camping called Sundance RV Park we drove to Mesa Verde National Park for a short visit before they closed.

Mesa Verde (Green Table in Spanish) is a National Park with more than 4000 ruins from settlements between 600 AD to 1300 AD.

Cliff Palace

Some of the ruins are cliff dwellings like this, other are on top of the mesa.

The round holes you see on the picture were rooms, called kiva. They were covered and the entrance was from the top.  A kiva was used for ceremonial purpose and for social activities.

Guiding at Cliff Palace

To understand more about the people who lived here, we took to guided tours. The tours were excellent and we can really recommend anyone who will visit Mesa Verde to do the same.

Cliff Palace

With a guide you have the chance to get into the ruins and get a better feeling for how it was 1000 years ago.

Balcony House

When we walk around these ruins we understand that the people living here belonged to an advanced culture.

This place is Called Balcony House, and the reason is the small balcony on the wall. The use of the balcony is not clear, but a good guess is that it was used for drying crops.

Balcony House

Fact is that they traded with other groups as far as California in the west, and got seashells and pottery. The also trade with groups in the south (Mexico now) and as far as the east coast.

Balcony House

The people that lived in Mesa Verde are ancestors to all Pueblo tribes in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. The native people in these tribes consider Mesa Verde as a sacred place.

Balcony House

A funny thing with Mesa Verde is that Gustav Nordenskiöld, the son of the polar explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld lead the first excavations of Mesa Verde (1891). There are plenty of photos and documentation from this time.

Square Tower House

It was a fantastic experience to visit Mesa Verde. It took us a couple of days just to digest the impressions.

Spruce Tree House

The only cliff dwelling you have good access to without a guide is Spruce Tree House.

Spruce Tree House

At Spruce Tree House there is also a reconstructed kiva, which gives a good feeling how it would be in the ceremonial room under the surface.

If you want to know more about Mesa Verde, this site is excellent: http://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm

2011-04-30 -- 2011-05-01: Canyonlands and Newspaper Rock

We used Moab as base for visiting Canyonlands National park. Canyonlands is a huge area with fantastic scenery and it is just a few miles from Arches.

There are 2 parts of the National park that is easily accessible by car - in the north Island in the Sky, in the east Needles. We started up in the Island in the Sky area, as it is closest to Moab.

You can not help thinking about the first man or woman looking out over this fantastic landscape.

Breathtaking views wherever you look.

Leaving Island in the Sky, we took the opportunity to make a quick stop at Dead Horse Point. It was a very rewarding detour. The views where fantastic!

Legend has it, that Dead Horse Point once was used as a natural corral for wild horses. The corral opening was around 3 meters wide, and the corral was kind of a peninsula in the air.

We spent the night in a small camping ground called Windwhistle, some 30 miles driving from the  east entrance of the park.

We loved the surroundings and tranquillity, and will search for this kind of primitive camping grounds going forward.

The weather looked a bit threatening, but we didn´t get any rain :-)

Early morning we continued to the Needles.

This time we could look up at the cliffs were we enjoyed the views yesterday.

Again the formations and the views were magnificent.

How about this - A wooden shoe!

Close to the road from the Needles there is a place called Newspaper Rock.

2011-04-29: Arches National Park

We spent a full day discovering Arches National Park.

Words can not express how impressed we were, and the picture you find here on the blogg does not really make justice to the real thing.

Skyline Arch - do you see the small people at the base?

The park has more than 2000 arches created in the red sandstone by erosion.

Turrent Arch

Turrent Arch has three openings. The biggest is 35 feet wide and 65 feet high.

Turrent Arch from different angle

Strange magnificent creations! 

Balanced Rock

It was an amazing experience to see what Mother Nature created.

The Spectacles

2011-04-28: Buena Vista, Colorado to Moab, Utah

Yesterday we spent most of the time in the car travelling through the high mountains of Colorado and arrived to a nice and warm Utah.

During our drive we past through Curecanti and Black Canyon.

Curecanti

It was an amazing drive, and every bend of the road stunned us with a new and fantastic scenery.

Black Canyon

Getting closer to Moab in Utah, we drove at the edge of Arches National Park, and followed the mighty Colorado River. It was sooo beautiful. We look forward to see the rest of Arches, and that is the plan for today.