We got up early and my Aunt cooked us a big breakfast before we headed to Mesa Verde National Park which is one of the premier archaeological parks administered by the Department of the Interior, National Park Service. It was established on June 29, 1906, by President Theodore Roosevelt as a National Park to "preserve the works of man", the first national park of its kind. Mesa Verde preserves the largest cliff dwellings in North America. We opted to take 2 guided tours which cost $3.00 per tour. We toured the Cliff Palace and the Balcony House. I must mention that I do not like heights. The Cliff Palace tour went pretty smooth. It is a one hour tour that involves descending uneven stone steps and climbing five ladders for a 100 ft vertical climb. The total walking distance is 1/4 mile round trip. Well when the Ranger gave his speech about what to expect on the Balcony Hour Tour I started getting cold feet. My husband seemed a little frustrated at me so I talked to the Park Ranger and told him my fears. He was very nice and said I could go a little ways and if I got scared I could turn back. I decided to face my fears head on and it felt really good. The Park Ranger let me go first through the tunnel and was very sweet and helpful. This tour involved climbing a 32ft ladder and crawling through a 12ft long tunnel(which I thought I would not make it through ) that you have to crawl through, and climbing up a 60ft open cliff face with stone steps and two 10ft ladders to exit the site. I made it and I was so proud of myself. I have done so many things on this trip that I thought I would never be able to do. The Ranger gave me a Junior Ranger badge for giving it a try!!! It was very interesting and well worth the climb!!!!
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