Mesa Verde National Park

Wednesday, July 25th, we went to our first national park of the trip- Mesa Verde in Southwest Colorado. Mesa Verde is actually the first Cultural National Park and is therefore much different than the others we will be seeing. We both found the history component fascinating as well as the dramatic landscapes surrounding the park. We hiked around and took formal tours of a few of the most restored Ancient Puebloan's Cliff Dwellings in the park. While the Pueblos built these magnificent homes in the 1200s, with mostly sandstone and water, they were not discovered until 1890! The ingenuity and brilliance used to build these dwellings is fascinating and not all that different than modern times in many cases, shockingly.

A peak at Cliff Palace, the largest cliff dwelling in North America. The 150 room site once housed more than 100 people.
Posing at Balcony House, a 40 room cliff dwelling. It's hard to see the balconies behind us that give this site its name. From these balconies, you could view the expansive canyons and mesas that supported their lifestyle. Peaking through a window at Balcony House. The timber resting above the window is the very SAME wood from the 1200s, never been restored. It's amazing how their natural resources then are similar to our treated lumber today!