Hello from Moab, Utah

Sorry for the prolonged silence, we've been without internet access for the last week or so. Thanks so much to everyone. it was great to hear all your news and goings on!

So since we last posted we passed through the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona, and then arrived in Mesa Verde National Park in the South-Western corner of Colorado. Mesa Verde is home to ancient Native American Pueblo remnants, which were abandoned in 1300. The most impressive are cliff dwellings - whole communities built in rock alcoves created by water springs. The park's focus is on the culture, archeology and history of these communities, and less on the surrounding nature, though the setting is also impressive with deep canyons and high cliffs. This was refreshing change, adding another dimension to our trip.

The way to explore the park is to join guided tours lead by park rangers. We explored three cliff dwellings this way and learned a lot about the ancient people, from their size (much smaller than today), their diet (corn, beans and squash mainly, from lands they farmed on top the mesa), and their spiritual practices. It was interesting for us the adults, but the girls absolutely had a ball. They asked the rangers endless questions, ranging from questions by Noga regarding the division of labor between the sexes and exactly how the dwellings were constructed, to inquiries by Hadas regarding whether the people engaged in war (they didn't) and exactly what they used to wipe after doing their business (the ranger speculated on oak leaves...). Maayan didn't ask questions, yet, but kept her parents busy and in constant vigilance to make sure she didn't dive head first off a cliff... Another aspect which led to great enjoyment was the fact that the dwellings are accessed through steep trails and the tours also involved climbing up some tall ladders (up to 30 feet / 10 meters) and crawling through tunnels in the rock.

Since leaving Mesa Verde we've come to Moab, Utah, which sits on the Colorado river and is the access town to Arches National Park, which we've been exploring for the last couple of days. The park is very very accessible, with numerous gracious stone arches just a short hike off the road. And surprisingly, so far we haven't ran into big crowds. There are also many adventure activities here in town - river rafting, extreme mountain biking and so on, but we'll be skipping these on the current trip, and focusing on the beautiful nature in Arches.

Hope to update more soon,
Anat