We left grand junction at 9 am this morning and headed south to Durango. Route 550 was outstanding with the aspens in full dress yellow. At Durango we turned west and went to Mesa Verde National Park to visit the cliff dweller culture. The setting was awesome atop a Mesa about 8000 feet high. There in the cliffs were "houses" where these people lived.  The site was abandoned by them around 1300 bc but because of the climate there is very little deterioration of structure and artifacts. No one knows why they left after spending all that time constructing these dwellings.
The museum had a well thought out exhibit of the artifacts recovered. Beautiful pottery, clothing remnants, tools etc.  it even had 800 year old corn that looked like it came from Wegmans.
Tomorrow thru Colorado and on to Kansas.