While the Anasazis actually lived no where near the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, the real deal was brought down, brick by brick and faithfully reconstructed as a tourist site in my home town. I hadn't been since I was a kid, so on a recent trip home my family and I took advantage of the insane 55 degree weather and crawled through tiny abodes, sat on wooden ladders, and my dad even got inside the traditional oven.
It really is quite beautiful and unlike the Cave of the Winds up the road (which I'll tell you about next week), there is no guide required – you can stroll around on your own time. There is also a gigantic multi tiered gift shop sprinkled with rattle snake taxidermy where we got a shot glass with a bear inside it and a nice little museum with dioramas and lovely painted pots.
While it's clearly a paler cousin to the massive dwellings at Mesa Verde, it's a fun old timey tourist destination and you can eat some great Mexican grub and margaritas after wards at the brightly and sometimes erotically decorated Amanda Fonda restaurant in town.
But what do you think?