Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde was home to the Ancestral Pueblo people for over 700 years. There are 5,000 known sites and over 600 cliff dwellings. Only about five cliff dwellings are open to the public and three of those required tickets and a guided ranger tour. We got our tickets as soon as we entered the park, and we were able to visit all three main sites in our one-and-a-half day visit. 

Our first tour, Balcony House, was entered by going down a path and up a 30 foot ladder. Rachel, as the "Safety Officer," went up right after the ranger. Curt came along to assist her in her duties.

Part of Rachel's responsibilities as Safety Officer was to stop the group from going further than the ranger wanted. Since we had to go single file in most places, the ranger told Rachel where the next stopping point was so she could stop the group. Here she sits on a ladder to prevent people from climbing on the ruins. Our Ranger recognized that we had several tourists "with a language barrier" as he put it, and asked me to make sure they stayed on the flat surfaces and didn't climb everywhere. Hence Rachel on the ladder. I wondered how I was going to communicate that "Hey these are 1000 year old ruins, you can look in the windows, but not climb inside to poke your head out to take a picture. " Luckily, I found a nice simple "No" sufficed.

There was a mighty steep cliff below us!

The wood and roofing materials here are original. The dry weather preserves it in an amazing way.

I believe these kivas were reconstructed.  When the site was discovered, most of the front portion had slid off into the canyon below.

To get out of Balcony House we had to crawl through an 18 inch narrow space. I wish I had a picture, but at the time I was concentrating on not being claustrophobic. This narrow passage, is one reason why they think these ruins might have been built for defensive purposes.

 
Our next visit was to Spruce Tree House. This was the only site we visited that didn't require tickets, but there were two rangers onsite to answer any questions.

The kiva at Spruce Tree House was reconstructed so we were allowed to climb the ladder down inside.

Kivas had these small walls to protect the fire from being blown out by the breeze from the ventilation shaft.

The clouds that made this sunset so beautiful, unfortunately also blocked the stars that night. Mesa Verde is supposed to be a great place for star-gazing because of the lack of city lights.

Rachel was much more pleased with this night's accommodations. I would highly recommend staying in the park. The distances between sites make it nice to be right in the center of it all.

Can you imagine the reaction of the cowboys who first saw this cliff dwelling from across the canyon? Amazing. This is Cliff Palace and is the largest site in the park with 150 rooms. See the square tower on the far right of the picture? I'll show you the inside later.

Granaries high in the structure.

This is the inside of the square tower I mentioned earlier.

This mural was painted high up in the tower. There's also one in the picture above.

This is another square tower, appropriately named, Square Tower House, which is only visible from atop the canyon. A few limited tours are given of this area, but the next available dates are in September.

Our last tour was of Long House. This tour was interesting because we got to go back behind the ruins instead of just staying out front.

 An original kiva roof is behind Curt's head.

 The rock roof is darkened from all the fires from long ago.

We had a great time here at Mesa Verde!

Bluff, Utah

Raise your hand if you've ever heard of Bluff, Utah, and know where it is. I had actually been to this small town over 40 years ago when I was a baby. Okay, how weird is it to say "over 40 years ago?" Moving on...I really don't want to dwell on that last comment.

Several of my ancestors were on the Hole-in-the-Rock expedition and settled this small town which is now about literally smack dab in the middle of nowhere. At first, I have to admit, I did not see the town's appeal. A blip on the road is about the best I could think of it. But obviously, Bluff gets a hold of people as evidenced by this memorial bench that is in the small cemetery. This woman probably hadn't lived in Bluff for over 80 years, but still held it dear to her heart.

I was fascinated to be at the grave of my great, great grandfather Adams. He didn't go with the original expedition but settled in the area later.

This modern monument commemorates him and his family.

All of the graves were well tended with flowers on many of them.

My first impressions of Bluff were not helped by our rental house. Remember our previous experience in renting a place in Lava Hot Springs? Well, since then, we've rented several nicer places, but I don't blog about those because they are boring. This place was not boring. Even though I saw several pictures online, I still really didn't know what to expect. Surprisingly, Bluff (population 250) was sold out, and this little rental was about all there was to be had. I didn't know if getting about the last place in Bluff was a good thing or not. I just hoped for no roaches, which can be an issue in Southern Utah. But I certainly didn't expect to be greeted by the site of this skull perched on the gate post. (cue ominous music) What animal is that anyway? Not the best way to greet your guests. Hey, we like skulls for decorating. Maybe we can use yours next!

The other side of the gate post had this little antique lantern suspended on a decorative bird holder. So which is it--the death house or grandma's house?

Inside, there was the obligatory dark, locked door that led to a small room out back. (cue Psycho music)

Curt checked out the room and found that it was full of miscellaneous storage, not miscellaneous ax-murderers.

The house seemed really small from the outside, but the inside was surprisingly spacious with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, which was about one more bedroom and bathroom than I expected.

The inside also held one other unwanted surprise. No roaches, thank goodness, but several spiders! Rachel immediately spotted one in the sink and several dangling in the corners. Since they were of the daddy-long leg variety and probably helped keep other bugs down, I was not too concerned. Rachel kept count and figured that Curt killed 12 spiders. No way was Rachel going to sleep in that house, and she put all of her things back in the Sequoia.  Only after much convincing was she okay sleeping in a bed with me. Getting her into the shower where she was sure a spider would leap upon her took even more convincing. (One glance at the following picture and Kevin said, "she looks headless!" Hey, the place wasn't THAT bad.)

Questionable outside decor and 8-legged friends aside, the house and the bedding were clean so it was okay for a night.  In the morning we noticed fluffy bunnies frolicking outside our bathroom window.  (cue happy Bambi music) As the small window had absolutely no window coverings (in the buff in Bluff), we had a good view of the furry critters. Good thing there really weren't any neighbors. (Did I mention the house was at the end of a deserted lane?)

The view out the front door was pure wild West (cue John Wayne music), and it wasn't hard to figure out how the town got its name.

This place had obviously once been part of some kind of livestock operation.

Fluffy bunnies, crows on the fence post--this place is giving me mixed signals! (cue scary, western, bunny music)

After surviving our night at the Bluff Motel, we went to find more ancestral evidences. This is the Decker House, built by a distant relative and now turned into a bed and breakfast.

Another distant cousin built this house that is also a bed and breakfast. And yes, I tried to get reservations in both, but they were full.

This house was built by my great, great grandfather's son and was being restored into a private residence. I should have taken a picture of the modern kitchen--gorgeous! I could move here.

I noticed in the upstairs where the baseboards had been pulled away that the walls were solid brick--no insulation. Hope they have a good heater. Maybe the winters don't get too cold?

Actually, I learned that at one point Bluff, Utah, was the richest town per capita than any town west of the Missouri. I guess raising cattle made good money back then. Once these pioneers left their log cabins, they moved into large homes. When you get off the main road, you get a chance to see that the town is full of beautiful pioneer homes

We then went to a re-creation of the original Bluff Fort. Each of the cabins have been built and furnished by modern day descendants of the original pioneers. As there are a lot of cabins, you can tell that many people have a connection to this small town.

Rachel and Camille with a picture of their great, great, great grandfather Lemuel Redd. 

Another cabin commemorating great, great grandfather Decker who along with 5 of his sons was on the Hole-in-the-Rock expedition. My grandma's maiden name is Decker and that is my dad's middle name.

Bluff also contains the ending of another great pioneer story. We saw the grave of Jens Nielson and his wife, Elsie. If you've been on trek you know the story of this family who was part of the Willie handcart company. They were looking after Bodil Mortensen, age 9, who was sent ahead to join her family in Zion. The severity of the weather claimed the life of Bodil and the Nielson's young son; they were buried in a mass grave at Rock Creek. Jens so weak that Elsie had to pull him in their cart.

You'd think being in the Willie handcart company would be the greatest trial of their lives. But, no, Jens gets called to be in the Hole-in-the-Rock expedition which had just as much trial and hardship as the handcart company only without the loss of life. (For more info, read The Undaunted by Gerald Lund) Then Jens is called to be the bishop in Bluff and he serves for 25 years! This is the cabin their family erected in their honor.

Next stop, Four Corners. I had heard that the actual four corners was on a bluff overlooking this memorial. Someone hadn't surveyed correctly back in the day. One of the vendors who surround the monument said that the states got together and shifted the lines a bit to make this the real four corners, so now the monument is correct. Whew! I am relieved to hear that we didn't drive all the way out here in the middle of nowhere to stand at the wrong place. Way to co-operate Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico!