login
Search
Free of pets for a day and night, Amie and I headed into Mesa Verde National Park to view the cliff dwellings. It turned out to be an amazing day, lots to take in. Coming from the massively overpopulated South Florida, we expected the park to be very over crowded on Labor Day weekend, but evidently it's in between seasons so we had much of the park to ourselves. An afternoon downpour chased away the few stragglers, so our guided tour at the end of the day consisted of five people including the two of us and our guide. That evening we enjoyed camping in the park, visited by overly friendly deer throughout the night.
Located within site from the visitor's center, Spruce Tree House is the best preserved cliff dwelling in the park. It's park policcy to not rebuild, only to preserve, so the dwelling is 90% original.
A closer view of Spruce Tree House. We walked along on the self-guided tour, reading the very informative pamplet provided for 50 cents.
Descending into a small Kiva at Spruce Tree House.
One of dozens of cliff dwellings we saw during our visit to Mesa Verde.
It poured down rain for an hour or so in the afternoon, chasing away most people. Fortunately we had the materials to make custom rain coats and continued our explorations unhindered.
After driving all the way down into the park, we learned we needed $3 tickets to take part in a tour to Cliff Palace. Fortunately the rain storm chased everyone away, so the ranger allowed us to go along with two other people, letting us make a donation on the way out of the park.
Amie peering down into an open Kiva in Cliff Palace on our personalized tour.
Some 700 year old designs inside a three story structure in cliff palace.
This deer was not afraid of us at all, walking right up to our table. She was cute and all, but when she tried to steal some of our home made mango jam, I was compelled to chase her away.
