Next to the cliff dwellings is a three-story Pueblo-style building that houses the Anasazi museum featuring cultural displays of prehistoric Southwestern artifacts. This structure was designed and constructed in the architectural style of the Pueblo Indians, descendants of the Anasazi.
Preserved under a protective red sandstone overhang, authentic Anasazi cliff dwellings, built more than 700 years ago have been very well restored. There are no "Do Not Touch" signs, you are free to touch and even go inside these fascinating remnants. After we viewed the museum Bev and I did just that, we went in, out, and up through the cliff dwellings.
The views overlooking Manitou Springs are awesome.
Wouldn't you like to live in this caretakers house with these views.
From Manitou Springs we continued west on US Highway 24 up the mountains to the Cave of the Winds. The Cave of the Winds is perched high on a mountain surrounded by deep canyons.
See the buildings with the gift shop and cave entrance high on the edge of the cliff.
What a view of the canyons and town below.
You can see the bridge on US Highway 24 in the distance.
They have two different cave tours but Bev and I have been in many caves around the country so we opted not to go down in this one. We did check out the gift shop and walked around the area hanging over the edge of the cliffs from the balcony. It is very high up and my knees were weak when I got close to the railing.
For the truly brave at heart that are up for a challenge there is the Wind Walker Challenge Course. It is a three story obstacle course balanced on the rim of a 600-foot drop into the beautiful Williams Canyon. Each participant is placed in a full body harness and securely attached to the course using the unique overhead tracking system. As you can see it is scary just looking at the structure with people walking tight ropes. Click on the photo to enlarge it. You can see someone on the tight rope hundreds of feet above the canyon below.
I don't care how securely attached I was there is no way in hell that I would be up on that structure. I am jittery just looking at it. (Hey Pete, would you climb around on that?)
After we left the Cave of the Winds we drove around some more checking out the scenery before we headed back.
Near our campground there is a Village Inn restaurant which has the most fantastic pies. You guessed it, we stopped for supper. I usually have the coconut cream pie but this time I opted for the apple pie a la mode. It was fantastic. Do you think it was a Weight Watchers Pie? Not!
No comments:
Post a Comment