Durango and Cortez CO

It is a beautiful fall morning in Durango--most of the tree's leaves have changed colour and there isn't a single cloud in the bright blue sky. We drove down the Million Dollar Highway to get here and the drive between Ouray and Silverton was unbelievable! Ouray is the most beautiful little town, nestled in a valley closely surrounded by tall mountains on all sides--paradise! Silverton is an adorable town with old west style buildings and the drive between them on the highway had incredible views. However, my camera battery had died through that whole journey so I don't have a single shot. Luke did take some photos though, so I'll post them once I get them from him.

The highway is described as "challenging and potentially hazardous to drive; it is characterized by steep cliffs, narrow lanes, and a lack of guardrails" by Wikipedia (and by a nice fellow we met at a laundromat who recommended the drive). I do not like heights and curvy roads in the mountains make me nervous...but we've been on so many roads like that on our trip that it didn't even occur to me that this road was 'potentially hazardous'. It kind of seemed normal actually. I have to give huge credit to Luke for both doing all the driving, and for being such an exceptional driver that I can even handle being on those roads at all!

We've been in the Durango area for about a week. Durango is so awesome--there are so many trails and people on bikes everywhere! One of Luke's favourite mountain bike idols, Ned Overland, lives here so I've been hearing lots of stories about "The Lung".
We also spent a few days in Cortez, where my new favourite trails are--Phil's World! They are crazy fun.
Just outside of Cortez is Mesa Verde, which is covered in ancient dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloans (formerly known as the Anasazi). They had been living on the top of the mesa, where the soils were superior, but eventually they moved their buildings (called Pueblos) to the sides of the cliffs to protect themselves from invaders. You can see what I mean in these photos:

Glowing in the setting sun

Can you see the pueblos? 

View through a window into the Sun Temple (which was never completed)

The Ancient Puebloans ended up leaving this whole area within a couple of generations. At one point in time it was a huge mystery as to what happened to them, since it seemed like they had disappeared. After much investigation archeologists learned that these people actually left for lower areas because their lives on the mesa weren't working for them any more (due to things like drought and depletion of resources).

We also saw this wild horse up on the mesa:

YAY!

When we were looking at one of the many great views on the mesa a large crowd of crows gathered overheard. They were swirling around in the air currents and when they would come close by they sounded like jets! I've never heard anything like it before from birds.

We also did a bike ride in the Canyons of the Ancients, where you could go down spur trails and see other remnants of pueblos.

Our next stop will be New Mexico!