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[GregKhougaz]

From Wikipedia: 

Mesa Verde National Park is a U.S. National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado, United States. The park was created in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt, to protect some of the best-preserved cliff dwellings in the world, or as he said, "preserve the works of man". It occupies 81.4 square miles (211 km2) near the Four Corners and features numerous ruins of homes and villages built by the Ancestral Puebloan people, sometimes called the Anasazi. There are over 4,000 archaeological sites and over 600 cliff dwellings of the Pueblo people at the site.

The Anasazi inhabited Mesa Verde between AD 600 to 1300, though there is evidence they left before the turn of the century. They were mainly subsistence farmers, growing crops on nearby mesas. Their primary crop was corn, the major part of their diet. Men were also hunters, which further increased their food supply. The women of the Anasazi are famous for their elegant basket weaving. Anasazi pottery is as famous as their baskets; their artifacts are highly prized. The Anasazi kept no written records.

By 750 AD, the people were building mesa-top villages made of adobe. In the late 1190s AD, they began to build the cliff dwellings for which Mesa Verde is famous.

[GregKhougaz]

       Pithouse  A.D. 600!

[GregKhougaz]

      The pit houses are amazing but not exactly photogenic.  We visited several and they were fascinating.  Structures have been built over them to preserve them from the elements.  As amazing as they were, the cliff dwellings blew us all away!   This is the Square Tower House.

[GregKhougaz]

        As you can see, the brickwork is amazing. 

[GregKhougaz]

        You may have wondered, "How do they get down there??"  Note the wooden ladders!

[GregKhougaz]

          Pit house Circa 750 - 900.

[GregKhougaz]

        Intricate work.

[GregKhougaz]

        Soda Canyon Overlook

[GregKhougaz]

        Another of Soda Canyon.   The cliff houses are behind us.  We also got to watch some buzzards gliding on the winds in the canyon.  Almost as much fun as our riding, I suspect.

[GregKhougaz]

        The Cliff Palace in Soda Canyon. 

[GregKhougaz]

      From Mesa Verde it was east on the 160 to Durango, CO.  We stopped at Durango HD and looked at a 2013 Anniversary CVO Road Glide.  It was beautiful but.... no deal.  We left Durango and headed north on the 550 to see the "Million Dollar Highway."  We'd originally planned to head into New Mexico but the weather reports said HEAT so we went north.  We passed Electra Lake and stopped at Coal Bank Pass, elevation 10,640'.  Eventually we made it to Silverton.  Truly beautiful country, this is a view from the gas station!

[GregKhougaz]

       Main Street, Silverton.

[GregKhougaz]

        Bryan, who has been everywhere before lead us to lunch at HandlebarS Restaurant and Saloon.  They had a rather interesting decor.  Now you know what happened to the fish that "got away." 

[GregKhougaz]

       The owner was kind enough to take this picture for us.  We chatted for quite sometime and learned that he operates the restaurant six months per year and the rest resides in Scottsdale, AZ.  He told us that nepotism was rampant and he had several relatives and sons of friends working for him.   

[GregKhougaz]

        From Silverton north to Ouray, the views are amazing.  The "Million Dollar Highway" is well named and gets my vote for one of America's most beautiful.  The road is also treacherous!  It's like the Dragon on steroids.  Though well paved, there are no guard rails to stop you from falling thousands of feet should you err.  CA would never think you could drive or ride that well.      This shot looks north toward Ouray.