Mesa Verde National Park and Beyond.

This park has over 500 archealogical sites; it was home to Native Americans 1,000 years ago and we got to look at the cliff dwellings and enjoy the area for 3 days last week.
This is a pit house which was dug in the ground and had just 2 - 3 feet above ground - it was used before cliff dwellings by The Ancients.

This picture of Cliff House gives you an idea of the size of these dwellings; those are people down there! This was built over 800 years ago; I wonder what we build today will be around that long...

We also enjoyed the Trail of the Ancients... No, it was not a bunch of old people along the road. These are some of the sights from that day trip. I love to see wild horses and in both Colorado and New Mexico, we have encountered several groups. Rangers at the Mesa Verde told us they have problems with wild horses getting too close to dwellings and they have had to "domesticize" some of them... wonder what they really means.

In The Canyon of the Ancients, I walked to this formation. It looks like someone put a giant wafer on top of the rock. I was sure it had been done by man but was told that it is a totally natural formation.

At The Museum of the Ancients, Mike and I both enjoyed looking at pieces of history through very strong magnifying glasses. I could actually tell the difference in paint used in petroglyphs; very cool museum.

At Hovenweep, we saw more buildings from centuries ago. This is called The Castle as it was very large for the time - 1200's.

When we left Colorado, we headed to Navajo Lake, New Mexico where Mike is trying his luck at fishing in yet another state. Yesterday, he picked up a couple of trout. Our Tucson friends, Bonnie and Barry joined us for a day and a half before heading to Minnesota for a reunion. They surprized us by having a new 43 foot diesel bus. I am having a tough time keeping Mike from drooling when he looks at it - he is just a little green!

Pictures from New Mexico in another post; my battery is almost dead.