When you can walk to four states in less than one minute. Our next stop was Four Corners, the place where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado meet and made it easy to walk into four states in less than a minute. We were shocked that there was a $5.00 per person charge to get to the area for pictures!  
 The four explorers at Four Corners!

The Four Corners marker that is located on Tribal Land.

The interesting signs!

We learned this is a problem on Tribal Lands. The Tribal workers will not enter areas with human remains that are not Tribal.

Today we started by finding Pinons! Pinons are nuts much like sunflower seeds only they taste much better. Pinon trees only produce the nuts every three years making them hard to find and a bit expensive, one pound for $10.00!

After all the cliff house exploring and the ladder climbing and tunneling we drove to Durango, CO for dinner. We found Steamworks Brewery and had delicious hamburgers.

                           

When you can visit Mesa Verde National Park, the home to five cliff dwellings that are open for viewing and around 594 that are not open to the public. In 1888, two cowboys discovered the dwelling they named ,”Cliff Palace”. The stones in front were broken away; but behind them rise walls of a second and third stories. Still farther back little houses rested on the ledges. Their masonry work amazes craftsmen to this day. These dwellings are amazing to view.

 Can you imagine being a cowboy and finding this! They are now afraid the cliff is going to fall in on the house.

 Doorways are one architectural feature that is studied to understand the Ancestral Pueblo past. The two basic shapes are rectangular and T-shaped. The rectangular openings allowed entry and exit from private spaces and the T-shaped doorways provided access to public spaces. The T-shaped passes might have had religious symbolism to them. Both doorways are very short so we had to stoop to walk through them.

Is Duffey photo bombing Jerry! These doorways would be shorter if the top was on the room!

We toured Balcony House where we had to climb ladders on the side of a cliff, slide through slim openings, walk on the edge high about the canyon bottom and crawl 12 feet through a tunnel. We saw the kiva that was used as a place to gather. 

 Carole and Jerry on the steep ladder.

 Duffey and Debbie on the ladder. Do Not look down because it is a long way!

 We all made it!

 Moving from level to level was by ladder.

 The kiva or meeting place.

 Grinding stones and another ladder!

Duffey and Carole walked down the long steep switchback trail to Spruce House, the third largest and best preserved cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde, built around A.D. 1200.. Jerry and I walked about half way down the steep hill and then looked through his binoculars! These dwellings are huge and it is believed the widespread drought from A. D. 1276 might have been the reason they were deserted. 

We walked to Far View, an ancient Farming Community. This was a densely populate area with the attraction being the greater moisture at this higher elevation, 7,700 feet. Embedded in the wall was a stone with a circular design that may have indicated how they planted their crops.

 If it is round it is a kiva.

Not far from Rancho de Chimayo was the Santuario De Chimayo,built in 1816, where many pilgrimage to each year. This chapel is noted for its 6-foot crucifix and its tradition of healing the sick.

Not far down the road was the Santo Nino de Atocha Chapel built in 1857.

Today we left Albuquerque for Farmington. In the mountains we stopped at the Continental Divide with an elevation of 7,379 feet. This is where the rainfall divides as to which way it will flow.

The Red Willow People of the Taos Pueblo allow visitors to walk into their sacred place, their village, where life continues from the earliest of human existence. Little has changed in this high desert village. Only about 25 people still live full time in the village but all the adobe homes are owned by tribe members and they must maintain them. The tribe recently received a grant to help restore some of the failing buildings to their past glory. We  watched a native lady make fry bread and then ate it. It was delicious when dipped in honey. The village had a cemetery that is no longer used because it is full and there is a new one just outside of the village walls where many tribe members live. The village does no have running water or electricity. Our guide informed us that families are buried on top of one another and only a cross with the family name is on the grave. He said they have a traditional burial ritual but he would not tell us what it was because it is sacred. The stream that runs through the village is their water supply. We tasted the clear water that runs untainted from the mountain and it had a sweet taste.

 This is an oven and when heated with wood it cooks 30 loaves of bread!

 The doors were originally on the roof. This could have been the first condo complex!

 Debbie drinking the rich, sweet river water that the Red Willow People have drank for years.

 The doors are painted blue to keep evil out.

Is this a photo bomb! We all agreed the fry bread was delicious.

Christopher Houston “Kit” Carson, 1809-1868, led Americans westward to the Pacific coast. Kit moved to Taos in 1826 where he was a trapper, mountain man, scout and army officer in the Civil War and Indian wars of the Southwest.

The High Road to Taos is the scenic road back to Albuquerque. This road winds through the mountains and valleys. We could see snow in the distance and were glad we were not in it. On the High Road is the Rancho de Chimayo, a well known restaurant with a quaint setting and delicious food. Once again we toasted our fabulous trip with Margaritas and beers!

 A toast!

 The Rancho de Chimayo.