Although we got a late start that morning, we were awake early enough to wave goodbye to the train carrying Mom and Ed on its way back to Silverton.  We were still in our pajamas, though, and had just crawled out of bed.  Now that we were getting the chance to sleep all night again, cough-free, we were becoming tempted to sleep late in the morning, too!

The drive to Cortez from Durango is a short one - about forty minutes long - so we arrived in Mesa Verde National Park around 9:30 that morning.  As soon as we passed through the gates, we took the main road into the park and stopped at one of the pull-outs along the way.  This pull-out - the Montezuma Valley Overlook - had a short trail to hike that lead to a lovely view of the valley below.  We also stopped at the Park Point pull-out and hiked a short, paved trail to a look-out tower.  This trail gave us some spectacular views of the park.

About halfway through the park, we finally came to the visitor's center, where we stopped to get more information about the trails to the ruins.  John was very much interested in doing the Balcony House tour - a ranger-guided tour to the Balcony House ruins.  The tour cost only about $3 a person and left from the Balcony House vista point periodically throughout the day.  He wanted all of us to be able to do the tour, but after talking to the ranger, it was decided that only he would get to go on the tour.  Mary was just too young to be able to climb the ladders to the ruins...and I was too pregnant to crawl on my hands and knees through the tunnels!  So, John signed himself up for the 1:00 p.m. tour of Balcony House, and during that time, Mary and I would have lunch while we waited for him.

Outside of the visitor's center, there was a large box labeled "Balcony House Virtual Tour" - it had been built to the same dimensions of the tunnel through which one had to crawl to get to the Balcony House ruins.  Mary, however, thought of it as "playground" equipment and crawled through it several times, giggling as she went.  John chased her through it several times, much to the delight of the other park visitors!  They loved watching my little kid and my big kid crawling through the tunnel.  One lady offered to take a family picture of us after they were done playing, so John and Mary straightened up and posed with me for the picture.

As soon as we left the visitor's center, we continued driving through the park until we came to the Balcony House vista point, where John would meet the rest of the tour group.  That was where he left me and Mary, along with the others who would be staying behind due to physical conditions.  Mary immediately sat down next to an elderly lady and began to have a lovely conversation with her about her Elmo doll.  To my horror, she then proceeded to put Elmo into time out for pooping his pants! (Out of the mouths of babes!)  It was obvious that the lady was enjoying her conversation with my three year-old, but why did it have to be toilet-training related?

After a few minutes, I managed to scoop Mary away so that we could have lunch.  We drove to a nearby picnic area near Cliff Palace, where we made and ate sandwiches. 

Meanwhile, John was having the time of his life touring Balcony House.  Getting up to the ruins involved climbing old wooden ladders and, yes, crawling through tunnels, so it was a lot of work.  It was, of course, well worth the work, because the ruins were incredible.  The ancient buildings were very well intact and marvelously preserved.  John found himself lingering behind the group several times just to get pictures of the ruins without groups of people milling around in them.

The entire tour took one hour, and when he was finished, he found us waiting for him back at the vista.  He couldn't wait to tell us all about the excursion, and he did so as we drove to the Spruce Tree House ruins, our next destination of the day.

Naturally, I wasn't going to let John have all the fun - I wanted to see some ruins, too!  While consulting the park map, I found the Spruce Tree House Ruins Trail, a half-mile round trip paved trail that goes down to the Spruce Tree House - another set of beautifully preserved cliff dwellings. 

It was getting late in the day when we started hiking, and Mary was getting cranky.  John decided to carry her down to Spruce House...and en route, she fell asleep in his arms!  She had not done that in a long time!  While she was asleep, John managed to carry her down a ladder into a kiva and then back out again. I am not sure how he managed to do it with her in his arms, but they both made it safely up the ladder.

By the time we returned from Spruce Tree House, Mary was awake again, and she walked with us through the Chapin Museum.  We spent a few minutes in there, looking at the various archeological exhibits that were on display there.  Many of these exhibits had been exhumed from the ruins and included baskets, pottery, jewelry, clothing, and even pieces of corn.  Mary was curious about each of the items, so we explained to her that that was how people lived a long long time ago.  We're not sure how much of that she understood, but it was very educational for all of us.

Before leaving Mesa Verde that afternoon, we took a drive through the Pithouses via a loop road.  There were several ruins to be viewed there, and we stopped several times to take pictures of them.

It was getting late in the day when we finally left Mesa Verde, and since we were all very tired, we decided not to take any scenic excursions on our way back to Durango.  We drove non-stop back to our hotel then cleaned up for dinner.

That night, we wanted something different for dinner.  While checking out the restaurant listings in our hotel room, we decided to try out one of the microbreweries downtown.  When we arrived, though, we found that it was closed!  Exasperated, we gave up and went to Applebee's instead, knowing that we could at least get a children's menu there. 

After dinner, we returned to the hotel, where I spent some time packing our belongings in preparation for our departure from Durango in the morning.  (We would be returning to Arizona in the morning, where we would spend one more night in a hotel before going home.)  Once everything was organized, the three of us sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed our last night in Durango.

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