We began our adventure with a short drive West of Colorado Springs to the town of Manitou Springs and the Cliff Dwellings.  Though nowhere near as large as the more famous Mesa Verde ruins, these are more complete and accessible to us.

These were built by the Anasazi and were built sometime between 1100AD and 1300AD.  There is also a 3 story Pueble style building dating from 1898 that houses the museum and gift shop. 

This site has been available to the general public since about 1906 and is accessible and well maintained.

You can see more of our pictures of this site here and can visit their website here.

We wandered around the site and the museum for a couple of hours then headed for our next adventure at the Royal Gorge.