Mesa Verde and Durango, Colorado

After Andrew's night battling food poisoning, we decided to take it easy today. We visited Mesa Verde as planned, but we mostly did the "driving tour," stopping off here and there to look over the cliffs and see the ancient dwellings of the Pueblo peoples nestled in the cliff side. Quite, quite amazing! We did one short walk to visit one of the cliff dwellings, the "Spruce Tree House," which was really interesting to see up close:



We then went on to Durango, Colorado, which was exciting for me since I used to go there as a child when I'd live with my dad in the summers (and an occasional winter). It is a beautiful little city in the mountains of Southwestern Colorado, and has become quite the upscale tourist destination. My childhood memories mostly involved visiting the John Deere (tractor) store and getting ice cream at Swensons by the train station. Well, I was able to confirm that the John Deere store is still there (although it looked a bit different from my memories), but no sign of Swensons. Andrew and I found a small motel to stay at, which turned out to be a bit of a dive. Andrew figured out that our room was actually tilting. He'd take a cylinder (can of shaving cream) and put it on various surfaces in the room, it would quickly roll towards one side of the room! Well, despite our tilting, divey little motel, we had a fun time in Durango. We went out for a nice walk by the river, and a very tasty dinner in the downtown area.

Cortez the Killer

We spent last night in a cabin at a campground just outside the park entrance to Mesa Verde in Southwest Colorado. Our plan had been to sleep in Durango, but we discovered on route that all of the hotel rooms in Durango appeared to have been taken. At a loss about where to go, Lisa spotted a row of four cabins close to the highway. I reluctantly turned the car around to investigate ... but, lo and behold, Lisa had found us our accommodation for the night. The location worked out great, because we had planned to visit Mesa Verde in the morning, and the cabin was a prime location for it.



A few yards away from our cabin was a stable containing several small donkeys. I thought that Segui would take great interest in them, possibly awakening his herding instincts ... but he continued to demonstrate the indifference to wildlife that he has exhibited throughout the trip.

We enjoyed some Southwestern cuisine in the nearby town of Cortez ... but things turned bad in the middle of the night, when I awoke with stomach pains and extreme nausia. I got out of bed and stumbled outside the cabin into the cold Colorado night (wearing only my undies) and proceeded to throw up the aforementioned Southwestern cuisine. It would appear to have been a case of food poisoning, as I can still feel my body trying to excrete toxins. Lisa called her mum (a nurse) to ask for medical advice. We watched an episode of The Daily Show to take my mind off things; it featured a Benny Hill spoof, so I'm not sure whether it made matters better or worse for me.