Photos and Math and My Quasi-Cross Country Trip Part II

So, we start with the total of my previous post on this. (HERE if you missed it.) And then...

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One beautiful sunset over the Rocky Mountains

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The Chapel at The Air Force Academy

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The absolutely breathtaking Garden of the Gods

Pike's Peak in the distance

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My favesies part of the trip: The Manitou Cliff Dwellings

Authentic Anasazi cliff dwellings, dating 800-1000 years old 

This was a storage bin made of sandstone slabs and used for storing corn, beans, and squash. The openings at the top and in the front were covered with thin stones, then sealed with adobe to prevent rats, mice, and weevils from entering. 

The area behind the rooms was used for a trash area. They also kept some of their turkeys penned up in it, to feed from the refuse areas. Also, in the winter, burials were made in the the trash piles, which were easy to dig in. When a body was buried there it was surrounded by perfectly dry material, such as ashes, dust, corn cobs and tassels and turkey droppings. The chill of winter prevented decay and the body simply dried out and became mummified. As long as no moisture reached it, it would remain unchanged for centuries. 

This circular pit was the sacred kiva and was used by the men as a ceremonial chamber. Sacred articles were placed in the square openings built into the wall. The small hole in the floor is a symbolic opening in the earth called the Sipapu, and served as a passage way for the spirit of the person to enter and exit at birth and death.
100% chance I'm writing this into a story someday . . . 

This structure was a four family, four room home. The large rectangular openings are doors, the smaller is a window. (The window is closed with a window stone--the doors were closed with door stones.) The small pegs sticking out from the top of the structure were used to hang meat and vegetables to dry in the sun. 

"Their history disappears suddenly from the archeological record in the late 1100 AMD. No Pueblo Indian group living today can trace their lineage back to the Mimbres Indians."
FASCINATES ME.

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Approximately ONE MILLION shots of me trying to capture scenery in the shades.
Because I'm deep like that.

cloudsies

treeeeeees

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3 free beers at the Coors Brewery

My personal fave...  

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14,110 feet up on PIKE'S PEAK, baby
My pictures don't do it justice.
Not even close.
Also, I couldn't breathe that high up and got dizzy.

It was fun.

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6,626 feet above The Royal Gorge.
Whom I lovingly refer to as George.

Yep. I totes walked across this. 

EQUALS
One amazeballs trip. I can't wait to go back to Colorado. I'll def be doing Nashville and Memphis again someday.

You should too.

Let's go together.

*reaches out hand*