Mesa Verde National Park

On Wednesday, we left the peaceful mountainside cabin and headed back into civilization to see Mesa Verde National Park only an hour and a half away (and the whole first hour is the trip down the gravel road from the cabin!).

The mountain air is so refreshing after our weeks in Florida, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.  The nights get into the 50’s and we enjoy crisp mornings on the front porch.  With the drive this morning we are headed back into the heat.  Still a dry heat though and only a high of about 92, so not too bad.  

Mesa Verde was different than the other parks we have visited thus far because the focus is really on the Pueblo homes built into the caves and canyons.  Some of these homes are from as early as 600 AD!  Incredible that there are remains of them to this day.  

We first drove an hour of twists and turns to get to a short hike at Step House.  And on our way we saw a grizzly bear cub cross the road!  So exciting!

Penn and Jansen never get carsick, but we didn’t realize they made the mistake of reading their Junior Ranger guides as we wove through the park.  The both of them felt pretty disgusting between the ride and then the elevation and the heat.  Poor guys!  Before hiking down to Step House we let them chill in the shade and rehydrate.  Thankfully they bounced back pretty quickly.

I played tour guide and read the self-guided tour information for the family.  It’s incredible the intricacy and resourcefulness of these homes!

I didn’t take many pictures this day as my hand was often in Jansen’s walking with him.  Anytime we jump out of the car, his hand slips into mine.  I love it.  Also, this park day was kind of exhausting.  Squabbles in the car, disobedience and disrespect here and there, just the monotony of the go-around just had me a tad less enthusiastic.  Mesa Verde is definitely worth seeing, but today I don’t think I had packed enough patience to enjoy it fully.

Anyways, after Step House, we wound back up to a lunch stop and then continued on down to Spruce Tree House.  We were originally going to do the self-guided tour here as well, but they have it closed because of rocks falling!  No thank you!

Then we moved on to a spot where we could view Cliff Palace and other dwellings and ceremonial sites beside it.  Cliff Palace is incredibly impressive.

This blog post seems like it was a quick in and out trip, but the sites within the park are quite spread out, so we had arrived at 11am and didn’t leave until 4pm

After leaving the park we made a quick grocery stop and then a fun stop in the town of Dolores that is right before the long road up to the cabin.  There was a farmer’s market going on in the town park behind the old train station.  So cute!  And Doug and I grabbed some awesome pizzas to take up to the cabin for an impromptu dinner date on the front porch while the boys resumed their Monopoly game.  This Monopoly gaming is no joke!  They are passionate about playing.  So fun to see something all four can enjoy.