It all began with a long...(very long) drive...6 1/2 hours to be precise! As usual, the girls entertained themselves beautifully while I talked myself out of jumping out of the car window around hour #4. I'm not great with long car rides and we figured out that my sanity limit is right around that mark--which is great for planning our next trip!
On the bright side, we got to see lots of cities and towns we've only seen on the evening news weather maps...Del Norte, Pagosa Springs, Cortez, Durango and the famous Wolf Creek Pass, until finally we saw the sign we'd all been waiting for..."Welcome to Mesa Verde National Park!" We immediately checked into our lodge, dropped off our stuff and headed out to explore!
Our first stop was the Spruce Tree House overlook. It was after 5:00 so the trail leading down to it was closed but it's almost more impressive from across the canyon--we got a birds' eye view along with all the turkey vultures circling overhead.
(1200 AD)
As we walked back to our car, we were greeted by a couple of gopher snakes lazily slithering by...quite a shocking surprise for the girls!
Then we drove a bit to visit another group of sites--remnants of a village dating from 1000 AD. We saw the amazing sandstone reservoir they made for collecting water for their crops, kivas for worship and ceremonies, and apartment-like dwellings--complete with pottery shards still visible around the grounds.
Below-ground Kiva--part of every Puebloan dwelling/community
Pottery shard (yes, still there and not currently in my pocket)
Julia loved the carving on this brick
We beat the sunset with a view of the next morning's coming attraction--a tour of the majestic Cliff Palace...
No comments:
Post a Comment