Mesa Verde National Park, CO - 9/8/14

After spending 4 nice vacation days in the Ouray, CO area, we headed SW.  Our next stop was Mesa Verde National Park.  It's the largest archeological preserve in the United States.  I had been there before, but Leesa had not.  It's quite an amazing place.  What I had forgotten was that the ruins are not confined to one area; they are all over in that part of the country.

In an effort to get caught up on my blogging, I'm just going to include a photo post and not describe too many details, although the area is worthy of writing at great length.

We camped at Morehead campground which is run by the park service.  It is large, clean and very nice.  We saw lots of deer roaming around.

I had to include this picture.  I don't know how it works, but it's interesting.

When I was last here, many years ago, these cliff dwelling were thought to be homes, or living spaces. Current thinking is that they may have been more of community centers, but not living space. The structures date to around 1200 A.D.

Spruce Tree House ruins

Cliff House ruins

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We arrived in the early afternoon on 9/8 and spent the afternoon touring the park (including a 5 PM ranger tour of the Spruce Tree house ruins) before camping inside the park,  We left the next morning to continue our journey.