Mesa Verde National Park

On June 29, 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt established Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde preserves nearly 5000 archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. About 1,400 years ago people lived in this area for more than 700 years. Julie took many photos while I was clutching the steering wheel on this precarious drive to the top of the mesa. These are just my photos and Julie's will be added in the future. This is a place that Julie has dreamed of visiting since she was a teenager. I should have planned better and allowed more time. Cliff dwelling tours required a permit in advance at Recreation.gov and there is no internet on the mesa. The elevation is above 7000 feet so caution needs to be taken when hiking. We used PictureThis to identify plants. (Click on any photo to enlarge)

Scarlet Hedgehog Cactus
Scarlet Globemallow
Wildflowers
Banana Yucca
Alder-leaf Mountain Mahogany

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Oregon - Week 1

Image
The tent is pitched. We are with family and we are happy to be here. (Click on any photo to enlarge)   Day 1 - Woke up in the tent this drizzly morning, temperature 46F degrees. Slept pretty good last night. Could hear the neighbors wind chimes on and off during the night. Made a couple batches of coffee in our French press.  It was nice to be with family and not have to go anywhere. We did go to Schmizza Public House for Dinner. Day 2 - We found a place to eat breakfast at Kevin's Cafe .   After we headed to Waterloo County Park . We found a nice 1.2 mile walking path on Alltrails , full of wildflowers and birds. We spent nearly 2 hours here.  This was a special place that we will create another page for. Lots of wildflower and bird photos! https://travelingvtjs.blogspot.com/p/waterloo-county-park.html . Day 3 - 49 degrees and raining this morning. We found Randy's Main Street Coffee in Brownsville, the food was delicious. After we w
Read more

Day 1 - Vermont to Amsterdam, NY

Image
Today's plan is to drive 6 hours, 261 miles, with several interesting places along the way.  We left Northeast Vermont Sunday morning, April 16th with a fully packed car. Our first stop was at Singleton's General Store in Proctorsville, VT for lunch. Julie and I grew up in the area and knew this was a great place to get a sandwich and some gifts for our relatives out West.  Bennington, VT. was our next stop to photograph 3 covered bridges. Silk Road Covered Bridge There was also some Black Poplar and Bloodroot flowers here. Black Poplar Bloodroot Paper Mill Covered Bridge was our next stop. Paper Mill Covered Bridge Then, Henry Covered Bridge. All were within a few miles of each other. Henry Covered Bridge We crossed into New York on Rte 67, a beautiful country highway, to find Buskirk Covered Bridge in Buskirk, NY. Buskirks Covered Bridge Buskirks Covered Bridge  Buttermilk Falls was another point of interest in Schaghticoke, NY. Buttermilk Falls After meandering through the
Read more

Day 4 - Maumee, OH to Peru, IL

Image
We started today behind schedule! It was the scones fault. Turns out our host at Suite T Airbnb  is an instructor at a local culinary school and delivered scones just before 9AM and they were so good we wanted more! We waited for the tea shop downstairs to open at 10AM. By the time we got on the road it was 10:30AM, an hour and a half behind schedule, but it was SO worth it; Coconut Rum Scones with Lemon Curd, Devonshire Cream, and Strawberry  Jam for toppings.  (Click on any photo to enlarge) Scones and Clotted Cream History of Suite T B&B Breakfast with History Clara J's Tea Room Suite T B&B and Clara J's Tea Room Scones to Go Today's plan was to drive 6.5 hours, 332 miles, and visit two historic sites. Because of the late start we skipped Fallen Timbers Battlefield National Park and headed straight for Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site . It was a 2.5 hour drive through beautiful countryside following Rte 6  and Rte 66 (Yes, that Rte 66).
Read more