*****
After a small setback, we arrived safely in Mesa Verde yesterday! This might be the only post for a while because I managed to fry my car adapter (which I was planning to use to charge my computer.) The rental car's 12V lighter plug blew the fuse on the device, so we bought some replacements and put in a new fuse… which promptly blew. I switched in another replacement and tried the other outlet… which didn't blow, but the converter box made a sizzling sound while the light blinked off, accompanied by the odor of frying electronics. So much for that plan!
I've got lots of pictures of northern New Mexico and the way into Colorado, but we have plans for lots of activities today since it's our only full day at the Mesa, so they'll have to wait for later!
**Update: Later is now! This is The Future!**
We went from desert mesas...
through desert scrub land...
past interesting rock formations...
and as we got closer to Colorado we started seeing more trees...
and green fields, and mountains...
and even more trees and mountains! It was amazing how crossing the state line really did seem to coincide with a drastic change in the landscape.
Our last stop before the park was the valley-nestled town of Durango, CO, where we picked up some last-minute supplies before heading up to the park.
You can't miss Mesa Verde (literally, green table).
The park itself covers several different mesa tops and the valleys in between, and is most famous for the cliff dwellings constructed by the ancestors of the pueblo peoples of the American Southwest. Their modern-day descendants may very well inhabit the pueblo village we saw with Mindy in Santa Fe.
The road up into the park was steep, windy, and slightly terrifying as we got up in altitude (I'm not accustomed to mountain driving quite yet) but we found our campsite without a problem, and managed to set up almost without incident.
Unfortunately, after the tent was set I stepped on some uneven ground and my sandal strap broke! So it's hiking boots or flip-flops for me until we get back to Albuquerque.
We walked around the campsite locale and cooked our first camp meal by filling folded tortillas with cheese and pre-cooked beef and wrapping them with foil. Along with chips and salsa, our camp quesadillas made a halfway decent kitchen-free meal.
As evening fell we took a long walk around the various campgrounds in our loop, observing a herd of mule deer out to graze.
No deer here, just a nice shot of the remaining sunlight on the hilltops:
We ended up at the amphitheater for a ranger talk on the history of archaeology at the Mesa Verde Pueblos, particularly the influence of Swedish scientist Gustaf Nordenskiold. It included some vintage photos of the pueblos before excavation, which were a very different sight from what we expect to see today.
The one really unfortunate thing was a bad interaction with our neighbors at the campground. Park rules include quiet hours starting at 10pm, but at the campsite next to us they were still playing music and talking loudly at 11. Because we were hoping to get an early start today, Mike asked them, perhaps tersely but not rudely, to turn their music down. They turned it off entirely but then spent the next hour and a half complaining loudly about us (from literally 10 feet away from our tent) and decided to fill the time with a game of Taboo. Mike and I love Taboo, but the game involves sounding a buzzer when you say the wrong clue, so it really wasn't the best time for that. I don't want to have to call the park authorities on them since they already obviously resent us, but the camp store doesn't sell earplugs so we'll see what tonight brings.
For whatever reason the campground store wifi isn't letting me access google sites, so I may have to bank this post for now and put it up later. I guess there will be lots to say when I can finally post again!
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