Mesa Verde

Today was a day of amazing vistas. No camera can capture the views we saw- even with the widest of wide angle lenses. We drove up the mountains and mesas, curves and turns- that reminded us of the road to Hanna in Maui- except there was the occasional guard rail here. ( Maui had none)
First we went to the visitors center and watched a good video of the history of the various Pueblos tribes of the area that traced the history back to Mesa Verde. Then we drove 15 miles to the Museum at Spruce Tree House and saw a number of dioramas dating from the 1930's which really depicted everything very well. (CCC. government funded jobs employed many artists in the creation of these  dioramas).
The view of Spruce Tree House was awesome in the light. We walked down half way and realized we were winded and could see it fine there. Then we drove to see the Cliff Palace Dwelling and we were even more impressed with the number of dwelling units that the archaeologists  have uncovered so far. It was closed until May 30th but we were able to see it well from above at the observation point.
All along the route we saw the devastation of forest fires. We were told that the archaeologists actually were appreciative of the forest fires of the late 90's because even move excavations were unveiled.

Feral  Horses along the way

Forest Fire devastation- but see the bird!

You can see forever

Walking to see the amphitheater 

Juniper, Pinyon Pine, Ponderosa Pine, Rabbitbrush bush

Pueblo Paintings

Pueblo Clothing

early Pottery

development of houses in pueblo

Nice fireplace in lobby of Museum.like the chair too.

Spruce Tree House

Walked down to see the Spruce House.

Closer in on the Spruce House

Cliff Palace. No people because it's closed until May 30th. We got a good look though from our vantage point.

Norm says, "I'm whopped!"

Long day. Tired. We had fun at the huge dog park at our campground. Lots of dogs. Met people from NH and WA and their dogs.