Day one began with a great overview tour of the park. We spent 5 hours with Ranger Randy and he shared lots of interesting information about the park, the ancestral Puebloans who lived there, the flora and fauna - everything. It really was a great introduction and we learned tons.
Ranger Randy is a retired National Park Ranger, retired paramedic, retired wild firefighter and retired ZZ Top roadie. (This was a short stint during his youth when he found out quickly that roadies don't get to go to the fun parties, only the band does - roadies stay and tear down the set.) He works a few months a year at Mesa Verde doing private tours and he said he'll probably head up to the Jackson Hole/Yellowstone area for the winter and do snowmobile tours. What a great life. I enjoyed everything he shared, but Bryan got a little tired of hearing Randy talk and talk and talk.
It really is amazing to see how these people lived, how they labored to build their homes and store their food.
Standing by Ranger Randy's favorite tree in the WHOLE park - a giant Pinyon Pine (or as it is called in the plains states - Pin-yone, non Pin-yun. As interesting as his description of the tree and the numerous ways that the Indians used the tree was, it only made me hungry for pine nuts.
Our tour included a short hike to Spruce Tree House.
We had a great campground, very comfortable and the weather was PERFECT!
Deer were everywhere in our campground. We also saw coyotes and wild horses throughout the park (okay the horses are owned by the Ute Indians, but they roam wherever they want through the park until they wander into places the park doesn't appreciate them - then the Indians come gather them up and move them somewhere else in the park).
And yes, Manja won the scrabble game!
DAY TWO:
We took the ranger guided tour to Cliff Palace. Truly amazing what these ancient people did with the resources they had.
Ranger Tamara.
She talked very --- s l o w l y ---
and very --- d i s t i n c t l y ---
for all the foreign visitors - and she loved to use her hands to try and explain everything. I'm not so sure the hands were necessary, even I was confused sometimes. But we learned a lot nonetheless.
3 mile hike through the canyon to see petroglyphs left by the Ancestral Puebloans.
Sunset at Park Point, the highest elevation at Mesa Verde.
DAY THREE:
Leaving Mesa Verde we drove east to Durango, CO (otherwise known as my second choice after Sante Fe, New Mexico as places I would like to live) and then north to Silverton, CO and on to Grand Junction, CO and I-70 home.
The drive north was beautiful - the wild flowers were wonderful. The mountains were gorgeous.
Am I mistaken or does Utah have only vertical S signs? We saw these signs for about an hour as we climbed to 10,000 foot mountain passes.
Finally we arrive in Silverton - fun little tourist town.
Lunch in Silverton at the Thee Pitts!! Yes, the entire building was pink, inside and out, but the food was FABULOUS!! Pulled pork, mmmm - beef brisket, mmmm - bbq chicken, mmmm.
Really, if you find yourself in Silverton, Colorado or Glendale, Arizona - stop by and indulge!
Headed home - stop in Green River, Utah for a Blizzard and a watermelon.
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