2013 Family Vacation | Day 4 - Mesa Verde

We arrived in Cortez, Colorado Thursday night.  The kids loved the "old fashioned" phone in the room:

On Friday morning we headed out to Mesa Verde.  I was pretty excited to see it because I have never been there before.  

Our first stop was the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum where we watched a short video on the history of the place and the Indians who lived there.  Right before we went in, Aiden had to of course use the facilities, so Jeff took him.  Jeff didn't realize we went into see the movie and thought we had started going down to Spruce Tree House.  I guess he carried Aiden all the way there and back, not an easy feat!  I about died just trying to haul myself back up that steep trail.  Needless to say, when we caught up with him after the movie, he was not interested in going back down, so Jack, Makele and I went.  

 

 There was a kiva that we climbed down in.

 Jack and Makele thought it was pretty neat that Indians once lived here and were full of questions (most of which I could not answer which really made them question my intelligence):

After Spruce Tree House, we went to Cliff Palace.  We missed the start of tour season by just two days, so we were unable to get up close.  We did see it from an overlook though.

 Somewhere in the park:

 Square Tower House:

We really loved seeing the pithouses, the first homes that were built on the mesa tops:

 There was a big area where a village used to be with pithouses:

At the sun temple:

At the sun temple looking across the canyon at Cliff palace:

Cedar Tree Tower:

Jack, Makele and I hiked up to an old reservoir and more pithouses.  Along the way we saw a little squirrel gathering bark:

We had such a great time at Mesa Verde.  The kids loved exploring and learning about the Indians that lived there so long ago.  

Saturday morning, we got in the car and headed home.  We had a fun little vacation!