OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE June 3, 2014

Kevin thought it would be appropriate if I did the entry today, so here I am. Our plans were to tour some of the Cliff Dwellings in the park. Kevin did the Balcony House because it had tall ladders to climb and a tunnel to crawl through. Both were out of my comfort zone. He had a ball. The ranger who led the tour made it very interesting, so when Kev got done he was psyched to do the next tour which would be the Long House Cliff Dwelling. We had discussed this when we purchased our tickets. It sounded pretty easy so I said Yes, I would do it with him. We got to the meeting place early and as we were inquiring whether we were in the right place the ranger who was about to leave with a group told us to join them. Our tickets had a 1:00 time slot and it was just 12:00 I didn’t have time to prepare. Off we went. There were 17 of us in this group including a man who said he had one lung. The ranger leading our group is young and very knowledgeable and passionate about the area and the cultures. He explained that his mother is Pueblo and his father is Navaho. We start down the path and as we round a bend all I see is sky and a sheer drop into a canyon. At this point I am ready to turn around and head back, but Kev said “you can do this” so he took my arm and as I looked at my feet he lead me down some steep steps and a steep grade pathway, some more steep steps and another steep grade pathway till it leveled out and we were at the “Cliff Dwelling”. Now, all I can see is the sheer drop down into the canyon. I had to turn my back to that and concentrate on the dwelling. And then I see a ladder.  No Way…. Everyone else in the group climbed the ladder, even the man who said he had one lung. I stayed at the bottom and just listened to the interesting talk that the ranger was giving from there. All together our group was there for about 40 minutes, than we all started the ascent. Kev stayed on the sheer drop side as we made our way back up to the top. All I know is I would not have been a very good cliff dweller. This truly was an experience that was out of my comfort zone. We toured The Archeological Museum which was also very interesting. On our way back to the campground we saw a black bear which was not too far from where we were staying. I kept looking for him but never did see him again. Later that evening we went to the amphitheater for a star gazing talk. We actually got to see the International Space Station as it went by overhead. Beautiful sight. The evening got chilly so it felt good to get under the comforter. More adventures tomorrow…