We get up early almost every day, rarely sleeping in past 7. Like we’ve said, this isn’t a vacation, it’s a trip, an adventure, a series of experiences. It would be nice to sleep in one day! Or two. Well, today was not that day. The alarm went off at 5:45 and we were ready within a half an hour. My eyelids have been heavy since.
Mesa Verde is quite restricted and the best way to get up and personal to the cliff dwellings is with tours. Last time we were here we did the big, popular tours and got a good feeling of what the park was all about. This year we are doing two very small, very intimate tours. The first one, this morning, was Square Tower House. We met the rest of our group at 7:45, one other family of four, a ranger who was doing this tour as a training, a volunteer, and our leader, Ranger Piper. We couldn’t of asked for a better group to experience Square Tower House with. The two rangers and volunteer were passionate, intelligent, and incredibly patient with our questions and curiousity.
There is no doubt that we’ve seen our share of pueblo ruins this trip, including many cliff dwellings. But this was special. Part of it was that it was at Mesa Verde two years ago that I fell in love with the mystery of Ancestral Puebloan culture and today felt like a homecoming. The other part was that we got to be in the pueblo, study the masonry, examine the art left behind, search for artifacts ourselves. It was kind of like being an archaeologist in a very simple way. The girls and their new best vacation friend forever, Hope, found tiny seashells that the ranger hadn’t seen before. These little shells had been traded and could of been from California orginally. It was riviting to watch the girls discover. Every item they found, was picked up, gingerly handled, and placed back exactly where it was found. We even got to hold several pieces of ornate large shards of pottery, something we’ve only ever been able to look at behind glass cases.
The part of the tour was most powerful was that we were encouraged by Ranger Piper to “feel with our heart.” I think that we all did that. Today we all opened our hearts to continue to learn on this quest.
The afternoon was spent exploring the little town of Mancos. A great bakery, a happening farmers market, a perfect coffee shop, art galleries, and the kindest, most down to earth people, made this little gem of a town one I want to return to. We spent the evening in Cortez, enjoying family time, Thai food, and ice cream.
Even though the day was nearly perfect, the most awesome (and disgusting) thing happened late this afternoon. I officially lost two toenails. Many years ago I read the book “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed (also host of one of my favorite podcasts, “Dear Sugars”). The part I vividly remember reading about was when she lost toenails from her intense hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail. I read the book years before we really started hiking and I recall thinking that she was such a badass and I could never be that cool. I mean, what a cool injury! How many people can say they lost toenails due to their sport of choice?? I haven’t lost any toenails since rtxv, so I’ve been feeling not all that badassy these past two years. Well, I’m back folks! Badass hiker Molly is down two toenails!
