Mesa Verde, Day 1

Greetings from Southwest Colorado

Wednesday was Xavier's last day of school as a second-grader, and we were thrilled the weather this year did not force makeup days.

Rebecca had made reservations for a short vacation. On Thursday we loaded up the car and drove to Mesa Verde National Park.

The drive lasted, with stops for lunch and other needs, about eight hours.

We arrived at our lodge near 7:00 PM. Lots of clicking in the bushes greeted us. At first we thought grasshoppers were behind the clicking. Turns out, we were in time for the cicada hatch!

This picture above of the bush is typical of what we saw. There easily forty insects in the shot, all measuring about one and a quarter inches in length. They flew around us the whole trip, and many were quite happy to land on us and stay a while.

Our first morning began early; we were up before six AM. We had a bus tour starting at eight and we still needed breakfast.

The first stop on the tour was an overlook of the park from a spot called Park View. Here, Xavier both endeared himself to the guide by his questions and observations, and he discovered the spotting scope.

It took us a few tries, but we got Xavier pulled away from the spotting scope long enough to have the guide, Ms Holly, take a "helpie" of the family. (I coined the term "helpie" as getting someone to take a picture of you).

Behind the family you can see Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. It's why we chose the location as a backdrop.

Our next stop brought us to view a pit house. Xavier had several questions for Ms Holly as well as several answers to some of her questions.

As might be expected, some of his questions concerned the engineering aspects of how the pit house was built.

Our next stop was a view Cliff Palace. Many of the ruins were closed due to the time of year and due to road construction projects (one ruin was closed due to rock slides).

After reaching the overlook site, Xavier went straight to the spotting scope. He found Cliff Palace, but seemed more interested on the Sun Temple on the surface of the cliff.

To be honest, I think playing with the spotting scope interested him more than anything else at the site.

Our next stop had a kiva to view, as well as information on how the people (Ancient Puebloans as they are now called) used the yucca plant.

Xavier, though listening, was sure to point out to others the two lizards he found as they scurried around the group.

Our last stop was Spruce Tree House. Here, we did not have the time for the 2.5 mile hike to see the petroglyphs. The lunch hour was fast upon us, the tour was ending and we did not think Xavier would last such a hike without falling into constant complaining.

Up to now, Xavier had been a trooper. He made friends with our bus driver. Got on and off the bus without much fuss, and he found things to enjoy at each site.

We got back to the lodge and ate lunch. Then it was off to a self-guided tour of Step House. The drive there was a tedious thirty minutes of 15 mile per hour winding, narrow, hairpin roads.

We arrived about 2:55 only to learn that Step House closes at 3:00.

We stayed another hour and a half to view some of the other sites on the mesa top. However, we determined we would tour Step House tomorrow after breakfast and before leaving the park to drive home. We wanted Xavier to experience up close one of cliff dwellings.

After a relaxing dinner where we likely ate too much, we visited one more site before the rangers closed it for the evening.

Xavier really liked it because he got to get inside and explore one of the pueblo ruins. We'll see what he thinks of Step House tomorrow.