Road Trip Day 5: Mesa Verde I

_DSC2085 Before heading to Mesa Verde, we stopped at Honeyville Farms in Durango and tested flavors of honey settling on one called Bumbleberry. Good stuff.

The drive through Mesa Verde to the Visitor Center is spectacular with expansive views of the valley, the mesas, and clusters of 14’ers. As we were checking in at Far View Lodge I ran into a friend from college! He now works for Colorado Tourism and came with a few DJs from Canada to do a broadcast for Toronto and Montreal. What a small world!

After check in we took an afternoon bus tour that drove us around the top loop stopping at various cliff dwellings and ended with a tour of the magnificent Cliff Palace (first photo). Our guides were extremely knowledgeable. We then ate dinner at the restaurant at Far View Lodge called The Metate Room (below). The chefs here are amazing. We shared an elk tenderloin and a couple prickly pear margaritas.

_DSC1438 Todd dropped vague hints throughout dinner about my anniversary present. The sun setting over the cliffs made it the perfect setting to exchange gifts even though our anniversary is not until Monday. (Todd took the photo to the left from our balcony).

Todd gets to choose his present. I want to shop with him at the store in Telluride where his parents bought the champagne glasses we used at our wedding. If we do not find anything he wants we will be going to get massages when we get home.

Todd surprised me with tickets to see Sting at Red Rocks! He is performing with the Philharmonic Orchestra on Wednesday! The first concert I ever saw was Sting at Red Rocks. My Aunt Jeannie took me when I was 11 years old. I think he had just left The Police. I knew a few songs and had a great time but he has accomplished so much since then. Now, knowing all of his music, I have wanted to see him at Red Rocks again but I never though that would really happen. The funny thing is that I was just telling the couple on the train that yesterday when they talked about some recent concerts they have seen! I am soooo excited!

Vacation Workout 5:
21 15 9 reps
Push ups
Sit ups / leg lifts
Time: 3:06

This was a short one but I made progress with the push ups. I made it through the first 21 without stopping. I have not been able to do that since the one time I did it in March. It was a struggle and my next sets were about 3 at a time but… getting better.

A funny thing happened. One of our tour guides gave a bit of an incidental plug for The Paleo Diet. He talked about how healthy the nomads were when they ate mostly meat and how the discovery of corn, beans, and squash allowed them to settle but caused them all kinds of health problems and decreased their life expectancy. Most of it was caused by less activity and several dental problems (which can actually lead to all kinds of serious issues – even heart problems) but it was still kind of ironic.

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