Exploring pueblos! ~Mesa Verde National Park~

View of Spruce Tree House from across the canyon.

After Monument Valley, we drove straight to Mesa Verde National Park to spend a night at its lodge and explore some pueblos built into the sides of mountains.These cliff dwellings apparently date from 600 to 1300 CE. 

The night before our tour, we enjoyed the change of scenery because we were now in COLORADO! The mountains in the distance were so majestic and the drop in temperature (to around 70 degrees) was certainly welcome :).








Although most of the cliff dwellings require tour reservations in advance, which we were going to do our second day, there are some areas you can explore on your own. We explored the Far View sites which were only a mile away from our lodge. The kids enjoyed running around and pretending it was a little village :).



We were pretty hungry for dinner next, so we headed to the one cafe that was still open during this time of the year near the lodge and grabbed your typical lodge cafe fare. The two nice things - mini wine bottles (!) and a gorgeous view. It was nice to relax in an Adirondack chair here and enjoy the cool weather!




I thought it would be super nice to end our day with a gorgeous sunset at one of the nearby overlooks. We headed to the overlook that was closest to our lodge and with the least amount of hiking :). The kids were able to work on their Junior Ranger books for 15-20 minutes or so and then we walked out to the end of the overlook for some gorgeous views!









Crazy kids did some sunset poses for me!

















Just look at that sunset!! Ah, love it!

Worn out kids :)

We had two rooms at the lodge, which meant Josie spent the night with Brie. We all got great sleep for our second to last night on vacation!



The museum at the park was very well done with excellent dioramas. The kids liked looking around this museum and pointing out all the "old" time things the ancient pueblo people used to do.


The pueblo people decided to build cliff dwellings throughout the park. 

View of Spruce Tree House from across the canyon.



Exploring the pueblos definitely required some adventuring - ladders and tight squeezes through tunnels! One older lady on our tour had to turn around upon seeing the height of the ladder. The kids did great though, as Brie said, just don't look down!




















Afterwards, the drive out of the park was gorgeous. Some of the leaves in these higher Colorado elevations were just starting to turn. And the mountains in the distance were much larger than the ones we are used to in Georgia!









Before leaving, we had to stop for the kids to get their SEVENTH and FINAL junior ranger badges of the trip! So proud of their diligence in completing each park's booklet.



The rest of the day consisted of 6+ hours of driving to Park City, UT.

VERY strange random rock sticking up in the middle of nowhere.





As we got closer to Park City, there was a large forest fire nearby that resulted in a lot of smoke.



And lucky Jenni and I - we got to end our day repacking for the flights tomorrow! SO MUCH stuff to fit into suitcases again ha :). The only thing that made it easier? The kids swimming in the hotel's indoor/outdoor pool all evening!



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