Wednesday, 9/12
Brrr, it was cold last night. But we stayed warm and cozy and slept very well. Can I just say that it is ironic at least that ever since we had new solar panels/batteries/etc installed, we've experienced more cloudy/rainy weather than in the whole last 2 months put together?!?!?! In spite of that, we can keep our batteries charged up and have enough power to run the water pump (real showers!!!), keep the frig going, and even watch a West Wing episode most afternoons. We're living the good life, that's for sure.
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| One of the first ruins we saw (from afar) |
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| Our path happened to go through a midden pile and I spied these two pieces of striped pottery....probably around 800 years old. |
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| Long House ruin---the ladders are there for visitors, but it's closed now for the season |
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| This one is called Double House (note the multiple layers. There were even more that you can't see in this photo). |
We had a great tour and saw lots of things that are off the beaten path. Tomorrow morning we will do two more tours, this time we will be climbing up ladders and crawling through tunnels to go inSIDE the ruins. I'm curious to see what it's like to get to them. From a distance it's impossible to see HOW anybody could get in unless they had the power of flight. Much less schlepping all the mortar and stone into those natural alcoves in the mountain side! I wonder how many people fell off the ledge and died?! "Mama, I want to play outside!" must have put fear into the hearts of many a mother..."outside" was 8 inches of ledge next to a sheer drop-off. At least it looks that way from across the canyon, we'll see what it's really like tomorrow. All of these ruins were catalogued in ~1891 by a Swedish Archeologist Gustaf Nordenskjoeld (who came to the American South West in the hopes of curing his Tuberculosis) and today we saw Nordenskjoeld 12, 14, Kodak House and Long House.
It's overcast again--we're off to enjoy a cozy evening in our little house on wheels.
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