Today was the last day of the season for tourists to visit the ancient ruins of Mesa Verde. The park closed at four, and I had about 3 hours of driving ahead of me! I navigated as best as I could, hurrying along the highway but also taking in the beautiful change in scenery. It's amazing how distinct the state border changes are in environment! It's as if mother nature knows inherently what each state's ecosystem should look like once you've crossed the borderline.
The New Mexico scenery is of golden trees and small hills of tall grass, while Colorado gives way to boasting mountains and carnivorous firs. I got to Mesa Verde in more than enough time, traversing the 20 mile climb up the mountain, and stopped to take in the amazing expanse of land before me from the top. My first destination was the museum, where I purchased my ticket for the Cliff Palace tour and headed off toward the Spruce Tree House while I waited. Mesa Verde is a national forest protecting the ancient ruins of the Pueblo people. The Spruce Tree House and Cliff Palace are 2 of the several dwellings of the ancient people, their homes built into the sandstone faces of the tall mountainsides. Seeing Spruce Tree House from afar was simply amazing. But actually standing in front of them is even more incredible. The ruins are nestled in the underbelly of the cliff, protected by a slight overhang of the mesa above. To see the lifestyle of ancient man compared to today's world is astounding! These people lived in tiny, 10 x 8 rooms on a cliff side and still managed to survive, sans electronics and the rest of today's modern marvels. Granted, their maximum lifespan was 40 at the absolute greatest, but that's irrelevant.
I took my time walking through the site and taking pictures, trying to focus on capturing the architecture and beautiful color of the stone. As I walked, I couldn't help but notice how extremely peaceful the location is. Aside from the chirping birds and occasional woodpecker, the forest is absolutely serene. It's a nice chance from the hustle and bustle of city life where the only nature you can usually find is an occasional tree struggling to survive in a sidewalk, or a sad bush covered in soot from all the traffic passing by.
My next stop was Cliff Palace. I waited for the tour the beginning at the Cliff Palace overhang, which looks across the whole valley and the ancient structure to the left below. If Spruce Tree was a marvel to behold with it's capability of inhabiting 30, Cliff Palace was even more grand, holding a population at one point of 120. The our began at 3 as our extremely informative guide took us down to Cliff Palace and gave us a history lesson into the life of the ancient people. It still amazes me how simple life was, not saying that hunting and gathering was simple in the least, but I'm sure those people had a greater appreciation for life and nature around them. If you haven't noticed already, that's a recurring angst I have against modern society. Materialism and superficiality. It made me laugh when the tour guide explained that the Pueblo people would purposefully flatten the back skull of the babies in what they considered a mark of beauty. Oh how humanity has evolved in it's ideals of beauty!
An hour and several pictures later, the tour concluded. As I took the path to leave, I placed my fingers in a worn hand print in the sandstone and smiled inwardly. It's amazing how time flies. I climbed the ladders out of the recesses and headed toward the car. By now dusk was beginning to fall and I still had to figure out where to spend the night. My next destination was Durango, CO.
I had been out of phone service range all day and was hoping as I headed down the mountain I would have a message from a couch surfing host in Durango, or any messages at all. By this point in the day I was starting to feel somewhat lonely. Witnessing the ancient ruins was a marvel, but it's not the same without a friend to share the wonder with. I tried to erase these thoughts and pegged it to exhaustion and fatigue. I still had my cold and hadn't been eating too well. A girl is bound to get cranky under these conditions!
To my disappointment, I didn't have a couch surfing message, but texts began filtering in from friends checking in, especially Josh. Talking to him still seemed to ease my mind, even though I still have mixed feelings about him and our entire relationship. I find it odd how I spent two and a half years with him. He kind of seems like a stranger to me now, and that thought makes me both sad and optimistic at the same time. Sad because I felt like I lost a friend, but optimistic at the opportunities that lay ahead. Nonetheless, it was nice to hear from a familiar friend who obviously cared about how I was doing. That was a nice thought.
I headed to Durango and immediately fell in love, even though at this point the night had come. The cute mountain town is nestled in between mountains, my ultimate favorite environment. Again I had a sad nostalgia at not having anyone to share the moment with. At Josh's insistence to eat something, I pulled into a McDonalds, took out my laptop, and attempted to distract my lonesome thoughts with writing and uploading my pictures.
Long after my dinner had been eaten and the time ticked by, I finally gave into the growing dread that I would have to find a place to park my car to sleep for the night. There was a Double Tree hotel with a large parking lot across the street. That looked like my safest, most discrete bet. I roared my car back to life and navigated to the hotel parking lot, trying to find the furthest parking spot that would also shield me from any passing eyes. I parked my car and began settling down for the night, hoping once again onto my laptop and taping into the hotel free Wi-Fi. The idea of writing a Hobo 101 guidebook is growing on me more and more. I logged back into couch surfer and thought I would try my luck for tomorrow night. I checked my map and decided on Pueblo, Co. Hopefully I would have more luck there!
No comments:
Post a Comment