After camping at Cow Creek, we made our way northwest to
Bandelier National Monument. Since we got there before 9, we were able to avoid
the shuttle and drive right up to the visitor’s center. Bandelier National
Monument shows off an ancient Pueblo civilization that used to live first in
the mountain sides, and eventually moved into the valley below. We took a self
guided walking tour and forgot to actually buy the pamphlet, so I can’t tell
you much more about the monument from memory, but it is believed that the
Pueblo people carved their houses in the rocks by hand, which had to have taken
quite a while- the rooms are actually decent
sized!
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Explaining that the insides of the homes were fire blackened
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We wanted to show you just how big some of these homes were- this one continued to the last hole in the picture on the right, and also on the left side of the ladder
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Looking down at the ground level civilization remnants
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Lots of holes in the rocks
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After spending time at Bandelier National Monument, we
started to make the climb into the mountains, north and into Telluride, CO. It
was extremely beautiful, but required lots of water and gum chewing to deal
with the increased altitude.
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| Standing right outside of Dan's apartment looking at the mountains |
When we got to Telluride, we met up with another wonderful
host- Dan! We got unloaded, ran to the local grocery store, and had a delicious
stir-fry.
During the rest of our 2.5 day stay in Telluride, we got the
chance to window shop in the downtown district, but didn’t end up buying
anything- it is a very expensive place to shop, but again, perfectly beautiful.
We rode the gondola over the mountain to mountain village,
reaching a top altitude of 10,500 feet.
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| I will just tell you- I was gripping the edges of the seat- still not a big fan of heights.. |
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| Checking out Bridal Veil Falls |
Another activity that we did was a hike. Oofda! Once we got to the top- Bear Creek Waterfall, it was completely worth it. However, the combination of the high altitude, and our not being in awesome shape, it was a tough hike, particularly for me (Allie). But we all made it!!
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| Big mountain with fresh snow on top |
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| On our hike, we found an awesome rock garden- this is only a portion of it |
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| Friends at the top of the waterfall |
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| We made it! |
Instead of spending a lot of money on overpriced
restaurants, we mostly just bought groceries and beer, and prepared meals at
Dan’s apartment, including pizza one night. (I had moderate success baking with
yeast at high altitudes- score!)
-Allie
(Also- a HUGE thanks to a good friend who provided us with a
netbook so that we can work on blog posts, complete with pictures, and
homework! You’re the best, Curtis!)
