Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Manitou Cliff Dwellings



















One of the great things about moving to a new area is getting to check out all kinds of new places. Last weekend, we headed down to Manitou Springs to see the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. Here's some background information I took from their website to give you some background:

The Manitou Cliff Dwellings is a rare historical treasure. Preserved under a protective red sandstone overhang, authentic Anasazi cliff dwellings, built more than 700 years ago, await you here. There are no "Do Not Touch" signs. You are free to touch and even go inside these fascinating architectural remnants of an American Indian culture that roamed the Four Corners area of the Southwest from 1200 B.C. to A.D. 1300.

The Manitou Cliff Dwellings is located in Manitou Springs, Colorado, at the foot of Pikes Peak, the mountain that provided the inspiration for the writing of, America the Beautiful. The dwellings are open seven days a week, year round, except for Christmas Day and Thanksgiving. During the summer months, Native American Indians - descendants of the Ancient Ones - demonstrate their living culture through traditional dances handed down from generation to generation.

Next to the cliff dwellings is a three-story Pueblo-style building that houses the Anasazi museum and a Southwestern gift shop. This structure was faithfully designed and constructed in the architectural style of the Pueblo Indians, descendants of the Anasazi.


It was really neat to go to a dwelling as old as this, and yet be allowed to climb up into it and see the rooms where people actually lived.



After our time there, we started to drive up into the mountains a little, but were dissuaded from going any further by the tornado warnings that cropped up for our immediate area :) Nothing came of it, but there was a good bit of rain, so we didn't even get out and walk around the quaint town of Manitou Springs, but I know it's a place we'll head back to again.









1 comment:

MeganTKG said...

HI Dana, the cliff dwellings are amazing, and to get to climb up into the must have been really neat. When we lived in the AZ, we went to Tuzigoot, similar, but you could not actually climb into them.
The thing I really wanted to comment on was your little Annie in big brother Clay's arms. So great. When I was his age I would so have loved a little sibling to cart around, but a boy may feel differently. My girls are all about the babies, even my 18 year old godson loves the little ones and spends a good portion of his time with them. I think this is such a great way to raise children. They learn what needs to be done for a child when they are growing up, so they don't have to figure it out on the fly when they grow up and have their own! Any word on anything? Blessings, Megan