Blogs from Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, United States, North America

Tuesday morning, we had a fairly early hike, and with the drive up to the Mesa, another 45 minutes, made our departure time even earlier. I was a little concerned that there might be ice on the road as it was only in the 20’s but roads were clear. For those who haven’t been to Mesa Verde, the mesa drive is so beautiful. There are pull-outs that look over the valley, pull-outs that look over the canyons one each side, and in some stretches, there is a drop off on each side with only the road visible. I found myself looking for ruins in alcoves within the canyon walls. For this day we had a hike into a site we’d never visited before, “Long House”. “Long House” is a different hike, 2 hours in total which ... read more

Dianne had rearranged our schedule so we wouldn’t be arriving at Mesa Verde on the U.S. Memorial Day weekend. A good plan. The National Park campground was listed as First-Come, First-Served. We got there early but when Dianne asked for 4 nights, she was told we could have Thursday and Friday but Saturday and Sunday were booked solid. Huh? What about First-Come, First-Served? It appears you still have to have a reservation but the reserved sites are handed out First-Come, First-Served. First time we have seen that. The woman at the desk did provide us with a reference to a commercial campground just outside the park that was actually quite nice. More about that later. Mesa Verde National Park One thing I found out about Mesa Verde after we were well into this trip is that ... read more

Neither Antonio nor I sleep very well last night. I am still trying to find a job and things are taking much longer than we had anticipated. If I don’t have something lined up soon he will probably have to stay in the U.S. for a few weeks, or fly back after we arrive, in order to process his settlement visa application. The realities of being separated for a few weeks weigh heavy. We are up shortly after 5am and get the kids ready for breakfast in the hotel. Another complimentary continental breakfast is included, and by now I can recite the menu by rote. AJ is under the weather and doesn’t want to eat which is quite unlike him. We are on the road by 6.45 am and the morning is cool and overcast. We ... read more

The sheer size of Mesa Verde National Park is awe inspiring. The park includes 4,500 archeological sites; only 600 are cliff dwellings. Needless to say, we only explored a fraction of these on the day we visited. Some of us were braver than others, exploring both the Balcony House and the Cliff Palace on guided tours, We had booked on the Twilight photography tour of Cliff Palace which was a much better time to get photographs as there were less people and the lighting was much better then rather than struggling with the glare of the hot sun reflecting off the rocks. It had started to cool off a little bit too. Some history: "About AD 550, some of the people living in the Four Corners region, decided to move onto the Mesa Verde. For over ... read more

There I was rummaging around in my trusty ruckspack and thought what's this ??? And pulled out my little mouse which as you remember I thought had run away with the squirrels in Bryce , so obviously he got caught in the zip and pulled off and fell into the rucksack and he hadn't abandoned me ... Beeny was very pleased to have his little companion back!! And so back on the road again into Colorado we go on to Mesa Verde - yes mesa is table and verde is green in Spanish but somehow I hadn't imagined that this would be a huge Mesa covered in vegetation ... Trees , shrubs green stuff . We had got so used to seeing bare rock scenery that this was a surprise . Mesa Verde is the place ... read more