Sorry for the posting delay, we were in a bit of a networking blackout in the canyons of Mesa Verde National Park.

After what seemed like the longest drive day of the trip from Williams, AZ to Mesa Verde (just outside Cortez, CO,) we found ourselves in a nice quiet campground and ready to explore the ancient ruins of the Cliff Dwelling people of the 12th and 13th centuries.

Previously referred to as the Anasasi people, now the Ancestral Puebloans, these ancient people built some startlingly amazing structures in the hills of this arid and harsh landscape. We were amazed to see what they had done, all by hand carry and carve of stone. I was reminded of how much whining I did while working on the pond, carrying a few rocks from the trailer to the pond...these folks not only carried thousands of tons of rock, but also manually shaped each one before placing it in the walls.

It was a great time, and we really enjoyed seeing the history of this interesting people.

Faith's blog:
Mesa Verde was fun. We got to see all the original sights. Did you know in Espanol Mesa Verde means green table in English? It is called green table because they planted crops on the mesa. Mesa = table Verde = green

Kenzie's blog:
This is my favorite stop. It means “green table” because there are lots of plants and trees on the mesas (tables) they live under. There are over a dozen villages and temples. We only go to go in the Cliff Palace. It’s the biggest village. There a living room things called Kivas. This was really cool.

Photos:

Mesa Verde

Video:



On a program note...Michelle decided that I had not allowed enough time in some of our destinations, so we have added a week to the trip. I will be posting a new trip schedule as soon as I have one updated.