Mesa Verde Pix (bandwidth warning)

[Wags]

Hello folks, checking in from Durango with a few pix from Mesa Verde taken earlier this week. Unbelievable scenic vistas ,ancient ruins, and a couple of quite decent micro-breweries conveniently located near my hotel.

[Stephanie]

nice pics & thanks for the follow up.

Ok, I gotta know - what hotel did you choose? Are you going to ride the train while you're there? If you have enough of Mesa Verde, try going to the indian ruins outside of Farmington/Bloomfield/Aztec NM - it's only about an hr drive.

[steve...]

Great photos. I want to go.

[kap]

Been there 9 years ago. Wanted to move to CO for its beautiful landscape and friendly people but the citizens kept saying, "Welcome to Colorado. Now go back to California." So I did

[Wags]

[quote Stephanie]nice pics & thanks for the follow up.

Ok, I gotta know - what hotel did you choose? Are you going to ride the train while you're there? If you have enough of Mesa Verde, try going to the indian ruins outside of Farmington/Bloomfield/Aztec NM - it's only about an hr drive.
First, thanks again for your help. Ended up staying at the Rio Grande. I drove down here with my sister from Denver. It was a place she had stayed before so I figured it would work. Nothing special, but good location.

Monday was a long day up at Mesa Verde. Took the hike from the Spruce Tree House site out along the bluffs to see the petroglyphs. Wow, great hike, amazing geology and incredible vistas at every turn. Tues we went to Hovenweep National Monument. Very interesting contrast. At one of the outlying ruins I found a petroglpyh (don't tell the Park Service I was poking around where I wasn't supposed to be) of a spiral symbol identical to one I had seen many miles away on an entranceway stone block up on Mesa Verde.

Today we hooked up with my sister's husband and his group of underprivileged middle school students and took a couple tours back up on Mesa Verde. The Balcony House tour is amazing. You have to climb up a 30' ladder to get to it. Its very well preserved with some of the walls still connected to the alcove ceiling and remnants of painted rooms with geometric patterns still visible. After that my sis and I deserted her hubby and his kids and did a hike to some overlooks, then stopped at the Farview Lounge and sat out on the deck for the sunset view. Got a picture of a wild turkey on the way out of the Park. Those things are huge.

Won't get to the train since it takes all day. My sister and her crew took it last year and said it was great. I'm going to tag along with the kids again tomorrow to the Four Corners area. I'd like to find a piece of pottery or something to take home and also visit the museum there. I'll definitely want to get back here again. There's a lot more to see.

[Black Landlord]

Good to see it hasn't changed much since I was there in '90 or so.
I guess the housing slowdown is keeping the lid on gentrification, for now.

[voodoopenguin]

Thank you for them, looks an amazing place. Never heard of it so did a quick Google to find out.

Hopefully you won't mind that the lizard photo has become my desktop picture for the week.

[wowzer]

Nice pics.

[Fritz]

nice shots, as amazing looking as I remember 40 years ago. Except your shots have a bit more resolution then my Kodak instamatic.

[Wags]

[quote voodoopenguin]Thank you for them, looks an amazing place. Never heard of it so did a quick Google to find out.

Hopefully you won't mind that the lizard photo has become my desktop picture for the week.
Be my guest, he's a colorful little guy, about 6 or 7 inches. The ranger said they're only colorful like this for a few weeks during mating season, so use with caution.()