Mesa Verde National Park
What a flippin’ cool place.
Mesa Verde National Park, to be honest, is a little sad driving into.
It doesn’t have the grand entrance of the Arches or the snow capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains.
But what it does have is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.
I honestly thought the cliff dwellings were carved into the sides of the mountains, like little caved with windows. Call me dumb. I just had never thought about it much before. I’m from Florida…we don’t have cliffs!
I had no clue that whole villages were built out of stones made by the residents and were built under cliffs high up. Not like a cliff you can walk up to and into down by the river. No! You have to either climb down from the mesa on top or climb up from way below. It’s insane! And they are large!
We did the guided tour through Cliff Palace and it was such a cool experience.
How people could live on the side of a mountain is something to be added to my list of things I don’t understand.
I love history and the built environment, hence my architectural historian masters, so this was right up my alley.
Justin and I had a fascinating and in-depth conversation afterwards about interpreting and understanding history. There were some things the guide said that really confused me and sounded more like his own personal opinion or agenda than what the built environment actually tell us, even when supported by oral history. It ruffled my feathers some because it felt like it detracted from the rich history of the place and took away from the story of the people who actually lived there.
But aside from my opinions, this is the only place I left wanting to do more research and look into. It’s quite a fascinating story and I’m intrigued to know more.
My kids found it fascinating, but after walking around for a bit, they were ready to get back to the campground. They had seen the pool and the putt-putt and wanted to try those out.
In fairness, we were all exhausted this day and a nice relaxing afternoon doing not much of anything sounded perfect.
Aubyn got a hole in one, but Avett swears he won and is a better golfer.
I have no clue since scores weren’t kept, but I was grateful to see them all running around happy.
Edley was in her own world dancing down each hole and making each swing an extravaganza.
Embry beat me easily at foosball and I let her gloat in her victory. She was upright, perky, and doing a dance. Much different than how she was the day before.
Mesa Verde was a good stop for us… Embry was feeling better, the cliff dwellings were incredible, and the sight of the mesa from our campsite was stunning, plus, we got a little reset now that we were off the mountains.
Next stop, and he last planned sight of the trip…The Sand Dunes National Park!!!
