The next stop on our journey was Mesa Verde National Park in Southwestern Colorado. The drive to Mesa Verde was unbelievable! We drove over an amazing mountain pass which was bordered by the Rio Grande River. The drive was too treacherous for the camper so Ken took a different route down through New Mexico which ended up taking him twice as long! Driving the camper is no easy task! We are sure thankful that he does a great job of driving our home on wheels safely around the country!
Mesa Verde was a park that caught me by surprise! I was actually brought to tears seeing the villages that men and women built over 900 years ago. Standing in the shadow of these large buildings and hearing the stories of their lives was truly remarkable.
Mesa Verde was established in 1906 and was the first national park to preserve the works of man. For over 700 years, the Pueblo people built thriving communities atop the mesas and in the cliffs of Mesa Verde. It is the largest archeological preserve in the United States, with more than 5,000 sites, including 600 cliff dwellings.
This may have been a national park location I overlooked if it weren’t for Grant! After seeing Mesa Verde in one of our national park books, it has been in the #1 spot on his list of places to visit! So, I thought it only fitting for you to hear from Grant about our time in Mesa Verde!
Hello! This is my first time guest blogging. Mesa Verde means green table in Spanish. It is a 40 minute drive up the mountain just to get to Mesa Verde! Tate got car sick on the way up.
We took a tour that got us up close to the cliff dwellings. We had to climb a ladder. We crawled through a small tunnel because it was the only way out of the cliff dwelling. Dad almost got stuck!
We saw lots of different buildings. One of the buildings we saw was a kiva. Every night, after work and all their chores were done, they would go to the Kivas and tell stories and worship their god. Their grandpa would tell them stories about their family. We saw where they would sleep. It looked very uncomfortable! Then we came back up to the top where mom and Tate were waiting for us!
We took a short car ride to a small hike that took us to a viewing point of the cliff dwelling we had just been in.
After lunch, we did a second tour. This was of Cliff Palace. It is the biggest cliff dwelling in the park. It was really cool. This cliff dwelling is the one that is on all the postcards and information about Mesa Verde. It’s the one that I saw in a book and made me want to go to Mesa Verde. I was so excited to see it up close!
We went to get our Junior Ranger badges next. While we were there, we got to hear a Ranger talk about the Spruce Tree House dwelling. It has been closed for 8 years because a Ranger and visitor got hurt by a falling rock. The top is starting to collapse. They have been trying to fix it for 8 years!!!
Next we did the Mesa Top Loop Road driving tour. We saw pithouses, pueblos, and more cliff dwellings. These are all the different houses they built over time.
On the way back to the camper, we ate at a delicious Mexican restaurant. There was also a live band playing which was fun!
If you have the chance, you must go to Mesa Verde! It is very awesome!
What a great choice, Grant! Looks amazing & you did an awesome job of describing it! Makes me want to go there! Everyone looks happy!
~Aunt Heidi
Wow!! What an incredible place and fabulous photos!
Great to see all of your smiling faces.
Grant, your first blog was first rate! Thank you for teaching
me about Mesa Verde!
Love, Aunt Barbara