| My
first visit to Balcony House was the last thing I did
on a long day at Mesa Verde. I was saturated with information,
footsore, and grubby from traipsing all over the mesa
on a hot summer day. How different will this be from
Spruce Tree House? I wondered, as my tour group followed
the ranger down the trail to the pueblo. And will I
even care?
We
turned a bend and kept walking along the cliff under
a sandstone overhang where it was cooler and a few ferns
grew. Ahead and slightly above us we could see the long,
sinuous retaining wall of a cliff dwelling curving along
a bulge of peach-colored sandstone as smooth as skin.
We climbed a stout ladder and stood waiting in a little
plaza for the rest of the group to arrive. I looked
around.
It
was obvious that, although Balcony House was constructed
of the same sandstone and mud mortar as Spruce Tree
House, it is very different. It is smaller yet somehow
more grand, fitted more tightly into its east-facing
alcove and more difficult to access than the expansive
Spruce Tree House.
—From
“Life/Earth/Sky” by Susan Lamb
Life/Earth/Sky
Susan Lamb
48 pages. Oversized 10”x13”
Translations available in German.
ISBN 1-58071-031-X (English Edition)
$9.95 
ISBN 1-58071-038-7 (German Edition)
$11.95
- OTHER TITLES THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST
 Mesa Verde:
Of Sandstone, Ladder and Sky by Susan Lamb
- Mesa Verde Postcard Book
- Windows of The Past: The Prehistoric Drama by Florence Lister
- Peaks, Plateaus, and Canyons: Scenes from the Grand Circle by Jeff Nicholas and Jim & Lynn Wilson
- Ruins of The Southwest Postcard Book
- Art on The Rocks: Stone Wonder by Bruce Hucko
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