The next day, at Miranda’s suggestion, we make the Manitou Cliff Dwellings our first real stop on our Colorado Springs adventure. We get there early, about 9:30 a.m., and are pleasantly surprised to find it is not too crowded. The temperature is just right, in the mid ‘70s. After a quick coating of sunscreen, the kids make a beeline toward primitive buildings built into the side of a red cliff—the ancient home of the Anasazi Indians. We follow them inside the dark, cramped passageways. Keeping up with the kids doesn’t give me much time to read about the history, but I do learn that the Indians didn’t quarry any of the stone they used, they gathered it by hand from the surrounding mountains and carried it back themselves, because they had no horses then to carry the load. Whew!
Next comes a tour of the teeny adjacent museum and the requisite gift shop tour. Then Miranda has her face painted like an Indian princess, while Mitchell happily licks his new lollipop, shaped like an Indian feather. After spending a couple of hours at the cliff dwellings, we pack the kids into the car, in search of a picnic spot at Garden of the Gods—a park famous for its unusual, red rock formations.
“That was a fun place,” Mitchell says without prompting.
“Yes, it was,” Miranda says.
Awesome, I think (totally without sarcasm). For one moment, they both are happy! At the same time.
No comments:
Post a Comment