Sunday, August 13, 2017 – On Friday we headed out to see the Manitou Cliff Dwellings and then to go to Magic Town in Old Colorado City. Someone had the bright idea of having a bike riding contest right in the middle of Old Colorado City. We couldn’t even get close to Magic Town in Old Colorado City so after seeing the Manitou Cliff Dwellings we headed home.
The history behind how this all came together is very interesting. The Manitou Cliff Dwellings are comprised of Anasazi ruins that date back 800 to 1000 years.
The 40 room site was originally located in McElmo Canyon, which is in the southwest corner of Colorado. The process of relocating these cliff dwellings began in 
1904 and was completed in 1907. The ruins from McElmo Canyon were collected, packaged, and moved by oxen to Dolores, Colorado. There, they were loaded and shipped by railroad to Colorado Springs, and finally brought to Cliff Canyon by horse and wagon. The workmen then faithfully reassembled the dwellings in dimension and appearance to those in the four corners region. They used a concrete mortar in 1907 as opposed to the adobe mud/clay mortar the Anasazi used. This allows individuals to walk inside and tour through the dwellings.
Besides the Cliff Dwellings, Pueblo Museum, Cave Museum and Gift Shop, there is a Snack Bar and Picnic Patio.
The entrance to Manitou Cliff Dwellings
You can see some of the buildings after going through the entrance. It’s all so well done that it looks and feels like it has all always been right here. 
We found a parking spot very close to the Cliff Dwellings
Look at the beautiful mountains as seen from the Cliff Dwellings
A few of the photos we took while inside the dwellings.
Looking down from the second level of the dwellings
This is one of the entrances to the Museums
This is the Pueblo Museum
The bread baking oven used long ago
One of those cute little characters that tells us goodby and reminds us to buckle up!
We really enjoyed the exploring the Cliff Dwellings, the Museums and especially the Gift Shop! Saturday we went to Old Colorado Springs to see Magic Town which turned out to be a REALLY fun place to visit!
I’m writing this on Sunday. I got up early to work and Roy got up early to go flying his remote control plane at Pike’s Peak R/C Flying. He’s going to write about the fun he had there in a separate blog post.
When it came near time for Trinity to broadcast the sermon I got my computer set up to watch and listen. When it never came on I finally realized we are in Mountain Time so our 10:30 is their 11:30 and church was over……………….. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
We hid several painted rocks at Manitou Cliff Dwellings and one was found and posted on Facebook!
I’ll share our visit to Magic Town next!
Ya’ll come back now, ya’ hear!
Click on the links below to go there!
Wacky Wonderful Wednesdays published on Wednesdays
Some Things I Learned About Dementia published randomly
BECAUSE HE LIVES 