June 4 took us to Mesa Verde National Park. I have wanted to see cliff dwellings since prior to our 2015 trip, but we just couldn’t fit it in the last time. I had even thought about canceling it again because it wasn’t really on our route, but the kids and I sat down and watched a library video on the different national parks of the Colorado Plateau, and they became very interested in Mesa Verde. This time, we were making it a priority.

The drives to many of these places have been stunning. It’s often hard to find time to write the blog or go through my pictures because I can’t take my eyes off the scenery.

Our first thought about Mesa Verde was that the park was much larger than we had imagined. And, we understood why it is known as Green Tabletop. This high desert plateau was much more green than the other areas of the high desert we had visited so far.

Our first stop was the Visitor Center. I realized that we wouldn’t be able to walk through any

of the cliff dwellings that were open for tours due to my neglect to schedule it in advance. Lesson learned – but we still had an amazing time. We learned a great deal at a ranger talk that we went to that overlooked what they called the Spruce Tree House. Evidently this one did used to be open for tours, but the cliff face above was deemed unstable, so it is no longer available for tours.

We learned at Spruce Tree House that this area was inhabited by Ancestral Puebloan tribes from around 500 to 1300 AD. They chose not to stay in the Mesa Verde area because they had determined through their spirituality that this would not be their permanent home. They all moved on to settle in other areas of Arizona and New Mexico.

Here are some thoughts on Mesa Verde from Dominic:

Hi, I like Mesa Verde because of the history and monuments. There were 21 tribes there, but they moved because it was not their permanent home. They would grow gardens on top of the plateau. They planted corn and pumpkin and beans. Some of the tribes built their homes on top of the plateau and some of them built their homes on cliffs.

written by Dominic Whisonant