Southern Colorado has a very diverse landscape and history – from geo thermal springs to 14,000 foot mountains to ancestral pueblo cliff dwellings. The diversity makes it so interesting!
Our first stop in Colorado was Mesa Verde National Park- a place we have wanted to visit for a long time. Sometimes expectations can be set too high but Mesa Verde surpassed our expectations! What an amazing culture they had and equally fascinating was where they built their homes – high on the cliff walls of a gorge. They had to climb up and down the cliffs to get to the fields where they grew corn and squash and also where they hunted. Their only source of water was the water that seeped through the rocks where they lived in the cliffs. There didn’t seem to be any fat pueblans with that daily routine!
Next stops were Durango, Silverton and Ouray - all mining towns that were bustling with activity in the late 1800’s with prospectors searching for gold and silver. Now all three towns “mine” the tourists instead! The scenery in Ouray is particularly striking and it is appropriately known as the “Switzerland of North America”. Ouray even has an “ice park” where they create large ice flows along the cliffs for adventuresome climbers in the winter! You gotta be young to do this!!!
We continued east in Colorado to Pagosa Springs – there are lots of outdoor activities here – skiing, rafting, hiking, four wheeling and hunting but the most relaxing activity was soaking in their hot springs along the San Juan River! Wonderful!!!
Our final stop in southern Colorado was Great Sand Dunes National Park. The National Park has desert, 750 feet tall sand dunes, wetlands and 14,000 foot mountains too – what a diverse environment! It was really cold and windy the day we were there – we even had sleet!
Next stops are in northern New Mexico to explore Taos, Los Alamos, Santa Fe and Albuquerque!
