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| The Original To-mater |
A gentleman named Albert Christenson and his wife, built a 5000 square foot house within this rock. He blasted out an area, then formed rooms. It originally was a diner until they closed it in 1955 but they continued to live there, refining and making modifications to their home until 1974. The grounds contain a petting zoo, and many objects d'art that are intriguing. The story is intriguing, and worth the hour or so stop. |
| Jeep covered in license plates, wheels are made from scrap metal |
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| Chair carved out of a stone |
Once here in Cortez, our first destination was Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde was designated a National Park in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt and occupies 52,000+ acres. The park offers us a look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made their home here for over 700 years from 600AD to 1300AD. There are over 5,000 archaeological sites including 600 cliff dwellings and are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States.
We learned there were about 50,000 people living in this area and 10% of them chose to live in the cliffs of the Mesa sides. The remainder of the peoples lived on top of the mesa's, farming.
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| Just like the Pueblo people, climbing a ladder to access their home |
Only one of the cliff dwellings was open for tours this time of the year, Balcony House, which before we bought our tickets was told would require climbing 32' and 20' ladders, squeezing between two rocks to get to additional parts of the dwelling and crawling through an opening in a rock for about 12'. All of this and doing it at approximately 8000 feet, which we discovered can cause a real shortness of breath. |
| Room within the dwelling |
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| Crawling into the next section |
Balcony House was a medium sized two story masonry structure with 38 rooms, 2 kivas, with the alcove being 39' deep, approximately 264' long and built 600' above the floor of Soda Canyon.
As we toured the dwelling, I was stuck by the sheer ingenuity to detail, craftsmanship and engineering skills required to build this structure. Not only that, but consider they were 600' above the floor of the canyon and there was about 100' above them to the top of the mesa. Archaeologists discovered hand and toe hold trails notched into the cliffs that would have allowed them access to their crops planted above them on the mesa.  |
| Last ladder, climbing to top or mesa out of dwelling |
Some of the other dwellings within these cliffs, tours were not available, but we could view them from other parts of the trails. Cliff House, and Sand House are two of the more remarkable dwellings.
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| Cliff House |
There is so much more to say about this area, it is well worth a visit to discover where the original condominiums were built. Highly recommend taking your time and if you have any respiratory problems, make sure you bring your meds. We found ourselves short of breath after even a little exertion.
Second day here we visited the Anasazi Heritage Center, a wonderful museum interpreting the history and culture of the Four Corners Region. It is one of the best interactive and informative museums we have seen.
And of course, we discovered there was a winery in the area.....Guy Drew winery. They grow their own grapes, mostly Reisling, Cab and Syrah and make some really good wine!!!
Third and last day we took a drive to Hovenweep National Monument stopping at two lesser known sites along the way.It was amazing to see the different styles of craftsmanship and building techniques between Mesa Verde and Hovenweep. Hovenweep peoples built their structures on top of solid rocks, instead of in the ground with pit houses or within the cliffs, and the craftsmanship was precise showing straight and plumb lines. We learned the quality of this work was a style from the Chaco peoples who demonstrated a technique of building that was far beyond their years considering what tools they did not have to work with.
Chaco Canyon in NM is the last of the 5 areas to visit to discover and learn about the Ancestral pueblo people that inhabited this area from 600-1300AD. When they left the area in the 1300, they left everything, their tools, their pots and clues about their lives.
After a long day, we ended with a great sushi dinner at Stonefish Sushi and more in Cortez. We arrived 3 minutes before happy hour ended and our waitress was nice enough to allow us to order at Happy Hour prices. So we ordered quickly checking off more than we really needed to eat. But, we managed! 5 Stars for this place of business.
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| Stonefish Sushi and More - Cortez, Co. |
Onto Albuquerque NM and the balloon festival.