Mesa Verde

To end our summer vacation, I took the kids to Mesa Verde National Park near Cortez, Colorado. I have been waiting for years to do this trip. Because it involves a few cliffs and holes in the ground, I wanted to make sure I would have to worry about anyone falling over the edge. I was a little worried that the kids might not be interested in the history in this park, but they loved it all.Mesa Verde is home to some of the best preserved cliff dwelling and pueblo sites of the ancient Puebloans. They used to be called the Anasazi. However, that was a Navajo word and these people are ancestors to the Pueblo indians. So they are using ancestral peubloans for their name now.The first dwelling we visited is called the Cliff House. It is the one pictured above. You can get a fabulous view from a lookout point above. Then we hiked down with a ranger guide to tour inside. These dwellings are in the sides of cliffs. There weren't stairs or a nice trail when the people lived here. They would cut little toe and fingerholds into the rock to get in and out of the cliff. I can't imagine having a 3 year old in a place like that.

The sites were really interesting. We also toured places called Balcony House and Spruce House. At Spruce House there was a reconstructed Kiva (ceremonial space dug underground and covered with a flat wooden roof with a hole in the top for smoke to escape and as a entrance/exit). The kids loved exploring that. Some of spaces to get into and out of the dwellings were really small. I had to give the backpack to one of the kids so that I could get through the small openings.

The ladder below was 32 feet high. It was a little disconcerting to look down.

Sometimes there were steps cut into the rocks.

We got really lucky with the weather. It was beautiful. Warm days and nice cool clear nights.

Our guides were helpful and knowledgeable.

It's a good thing we had spent some time in Utah before hand. The elevation made the hikes a bit more strenuous for us sealevel dwellers.

We stayed at the Fairview Lodge in the Park. It was nice to not have to drive up and down the mountain each day during our stay.

The restaurant at the Lodge was really good too. We saw deer outside our room. We also saw wild horses and a coyote ran alongside our car on the way out of the park.

After spending the day hiking and site seeing, we rested and read until dinner.

I think this was my favorite part of our summer vacation (after Norway of course). We enjoyed hanging out together and it was a lot of fun.