var title         = 'Southwest Excursion, Part II : Southwest Colorado to Northwest New Mexico : Photos by Simmons B. Buntin';
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var footer        = '© 2009 Simmons B. Buntin. All rights reserved.';
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var majorCaption  = new Array( 'Approaching Durango from Alamosa, we passed over the Wolf Creek Pass summit, at about 10,850 feet.', 'We stopped for a few minutes to admire the views and watch the skiers of Wolf Creek Ski Area (this is adjacent to the ski area).', 'The stop was another great opportunity to get out among the white stuff.', 'And build a very small snowman.', 'Further west, we stopped at a magnificent overlook.', 'I can\'t quite recall where this is, near Chimney Rock Anisazi Ruins perhaps.', 'Quite the drop below us, but great fun to scale around the rocks and snow above.', 'The girls had so much fun, in fact, that we had to change pants from all the snow sliding!', 'Self portrait trio #5 now (maybe?).  Losing track....  It helps to have the wide-angle lens on for a shot like this.', 'A little closer perspective on this one (for better or worse...).', 'Crazy faces at a small indoor shop area in Durango.', 'Though I toted my camera around with me as we spent a couple hours walking along Durango\'s great old downtown, I took very few photos, including this Hotshot on the tracks.', 'After Durango, we spent the rest of the afternoon at Mesa Verde National Park, though with the 40-minute drive from its entrance to the museum/visitor center, we arrived after the rangers left.', 'These first few shots are of the Spruce Tree House ruins, which we were able to explore up-close the next morning.', 'The complexity and sheer numbers of cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde is awesome.', 'What wasn\'t awesome, however, was finding out we couldn\'t get our passports stamped, nor participate in the Junior Ranger program since everything was closed. My older daughter was pretty upset.', 'Still, she perked up once I said we could return in the morning. With this great afternoon light, I wasn\'t about to give in or give up.', 'Broad view of Sruce Tree House.', 'My younger daughter, unlike her older sister, was in pretty great spirits pretty much all the time.', 'This is Balcony House, I believe, and the round areas are ceremonial kivas.', 'Another view of Balcony House, an amazing structure dating probably to about the 1100s.', 'My younger daughter enjoying the view in her new green Crocs (half-price in Durango!).', 'Telephoto view of the masonry work at Balcony House.', 'Pretty great views all around atop Mesa Verde, really.', 'Ah, now that\'s the spirit!', 'More views of adjacent mesas.', 'I believe this is Soda Canyon, which runs adjacent to the road atop Mesa Verde, and which houses in its walls many cliff dwellings.', 'Self portrait trio #7. Good ol\' pops, squinting into the sun.', 'Riding benches at the Cliff Palace overlook.', 'There are also ruins on top of the mesa. This is the Far View complex.', 'Whether from lichen or algae or the glow of the sun, the rock often neared green in its late afternoon coloring.', 'In select places, you can go into the ruins, as well.', 'The large kiva at Far View.', 'Far View and yarrow.', 'As we drove back down the mesa to spend the evening in Cortez, we were treated to great views.', 'Spire and cliffs at the mesa\'s edge.', 'Though the sunset didn\'t feature multicolored clouds, it was still pretty great.', 'The branches of a juniper or pinyon pine make for an interesting silhouette.', 'The next morning, Junior Ranger badges from other parks in place, we traveled back to the heart of Mesa Verde. And Happy St. Patrick\'s Day, too!', 'Walking the path to Spruce Tree House, the water and air-pocked walls of the cliff providing an unexpected texture.', 'A bit further down the path.', 'Once at Spruce Tree House, the girls settled into their Junior Ranger booklets. They have to earn those badges, you know!', 'A couple closer views now into Spruce Tree House.', 'Ah, you\'ve got to love the old, old earthen urbanism!', 'The National Park Service rebuilt an existing kiva, complete with woodburning smell, which you can climb into to get a feel for how they were when they were used 900 years ago.', 'I think it\'s safe to say this was the girls\' favorite part of the cliff dwelling experience.', 'Good fun for daughters...', '... and good fun for dads!', 'Dark, but not so spooky down there.', 'Well I guess we just can\'t have enough of these kiva portal photos, eh?', 'See what I mean?', 'Okay, okay: last one.  Ah, but I love this shot!', 'Here\'s an open kiva at Spruce Tree House.', 'Near the top of the trail, back toward the museum, the girls completed the field portion of their booklets.', 'Once complete, they took their pledges and received their Mesa Verde National Park Junior Ranger badges.', 'Apparently this is moderately serious business! I believe the ranger added a portion to the pledge commiting the girls to always listening to their parents, which I appreciate.', 'I believe this is Square Tower House, off the Mesa Top Loop. In all there are over 600 cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde!', 'Sporting the new Mesa Verde ballcap, with Cliff Palace, the largest of Mesa Verde\'s dwellings, in the background.', 'Another view of Cliff Palace. Note the dead trees above, from a fire that occured about eight or nine years ago.', 'After Mesa Verde and another quick stop in Durango, we drove south to New Mexico and Aztec Ruins National Monument, which I hadn\'t heard of until just before this trip.', 'These are the monument\'s West Ruins, which housed over 500 rooms and was used over many generations, sometimes abandoned between.', 'Despite the name, the ruins are not Aztec but rather Ancestral Puebloan.', 'It was probably built in the 1100s and used for 200 years; and at one time was up to five stories high.', 'Many things, of course, are uknown, including why there is a slate green line of rocks in parts of the wall. Here you can see original timbers used for roof beams, as well.', 'Another view of a long wall with green stones and timbers.', 'View from a nearby mound, with the Animas River surrounded by cottonwoods in the distance.', 'Aztec Ruins is cool in part because you really can get up close to the ruins. We spent much of the afternoon there, and of course the girls did their Junior Ranger thing.', 'Original Ponderosa pine and aspen roof timbers, carried from mountains many dozens of miles away.', 'Looking from room to room to room.', 'These doorways were definitely not made for tall drinks of water such as myself!', 'One unique aspect of Aztec Ruins is the prominence of corner windows, seen at to the top of this ruin. Corner windows were very difficult to build successfully.', 'Working on their workbooks in the northern New Mexico sun.', 'More views of the West Ruin at the monument.', 'Just checking things out....', 'A large central kiva was rebuilt by an early archaeologist (the monument was established in 1923), and is open to the public.', 'The exterior of the great kiva.', 'Taking the pledge, with real ranger hats for the ceremony, to boot!', 'Aztec Ruins was a surpringly educational and enchanting stop.', 'Would there be more badges to come tomorrow...?', 'Of course, but first we had the long drive through the Navajo Nation, where we saw stunning rock outcroppings such as this one, photographed at 65 mph.' );
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