November, 2002

This was almost an all aussie adventure in the middle of the US. Yen and I went to meet Chris and Paola, friends staying in Boulder for the moment. Stuart just happened to be passing through the area and came along as well, being another aussie there was no fear of diluting the experience. Then Curtis passed his orals and came as well. Curtis is not an aussie so he just had to put up with a weekend of aussification.

Mesa Verde is a National Park in the southwest corner of Colorado, convenient for us because it is more or less midway between Tucson and Boulder where people are coming from. In the park are various cliff dwelling from the Anasazi - or pueblo - people. While they lived in the area for several centuries, they only built the cliff dwellings in the last 100 or so years they were in the area, before they all moved out, presumably south. Why they moved in or out is not known.

Onthe way back from Spruce Tree House.This was the first cliff dwelling we visited in the park.The people who built these tried to squeeze as much in as theycould under the overhanging cliffs. People are still trying to work out just how all thesebuildings fit together. Acloser look at a kiva. Just as we were at the Cliff Palace itreally started to snow down. Just as we were visiting the park thesnow started to really come down.