#146 Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

One thing which I just got a big kick out of was right at the entrance of the RV park there was a metal sculpture of a man/bird creature and was just so cool.

We had not even known what Mesa Verde was. I vaguely remember some story about the Pueblo when I was a very young child. I hadn’t put it together very well till now but that's where we are. We found a place called Mesa Verde RV Resort and it was a full hook up. We were ready for that as we had been boondocking for several days. We got settled in and well they did have a hot tub that I rather enjoyed.

The next day we went up to the National Park and even as we entered, we saw a rather beautiful statue sculpture of one of the native people climbing up to the Mesa Verde caves.

I could never even tell you what Mesa Verde was but it was right in front of us. It was a huge mountain and flat on the top I suppose meaning mesa. As we left the visitors center we realized there was quite a bit of a drive to get to the top with a lot of switchbacks. It was every bit of 5 to 8 miles just going up and up.

The next morning I saw a fellow with a big rig with three axles. I had been told at some point that 3 axles will make your ride smoother. I also thought it was weird that he was pulling it with a full-size 18 wheeler cab. I walked down to talk to him. He told me a story of how it probably was a smoother ride but he went with this rig for the comfort it provided. It was roomy and needed three axles because it was larger than most like 42 feet. Since then I have learned three axles usually always means toy hauler. He talked of how he had lost his brakes in a Dually truck and went screaming down the hill and thought he was going to die. After surviving that he got rid of the truck and bought what he called a real truck. He also talked about a company that makes them or rebuilds them for people like us. One model has a spot for a smart car between the cab and the rig. He talked like they were pretty expensive. I say that because he described his rig as a great price at only 125,000. If that's a really good price I wondered if the tractor-trailer engine was also wonderfully priced. He asked if we wanted to have dinner that night but I told him we were heading out.

It was nice to meet such a neet guy, bromance gearhead alert. He was a retired fed-ex driver.

When people ask India what has been your favorite place in the US so far, she always says Mesa Verde.

Later in the day, we were riding around and we saw what was either a coyote or a wolf. We didn't know but I have pictures. It seems like it might have been a coywolf because I always thought coyotes were kind of small and wolves were big and this one is kind of in-between.

When we got there we found a number of ways to experience it. Most of them were either hikes or overlooks. I guess the best way for me is to take about a million pictures. Some of the sites seemed to be kind of carved right out of the cliff face. Some were natural caves that people just adapted. I saw all the buildings and lifestyles of the people who live there a thousand years ago probably 800 years. It was all very cool. Savannah and I joined a hike led by a park ranger. it was considered strenuous with ladders and India wasn't sure if that was her so she stayed back on this one.

We really enjoyed and experienced each tiny city.

Here is some of the logistic info for Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

Latitude: 37.302792908837Longitude: -108.41586470604

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado 81330 Phone: (800) 449-2288

We stayed at Mesa Verde RV Resort

35303 Highway 160 Mancos, Colorado 81328 (map) | (970) 533-7421

Sites: 54 | Latest Rate: $27.00 | actually more like 37.00