All the Things

We got home from vacation and all the things kicked back into gear!

Robert and I enjoyed seeing, Where the Crawdads Sing.

Baxter was happy to see us and be back home again!

We love posing little Morris!

Brynn attended Drill Team Camp.

We had fun watching her at the end of the week Show-Offs!

She worked hard and earned a ribbon for technique.

All the things are starting back... an indicator that summer is almost over!

Homeward Bound

Today we woke up early and hit the road!

We stopped at our favorite coffee shop and Indian Shop on the way out.  Unfortunately, the coffee shop was closed, but the boys were able to purchase another knife from the Indian Shop on our way out.

We drove all day until we reached Amarillo.  We had reservations at our trusty Big Texan RV Resort.

The dogs traveled well and were happy to get out and play at the dog park.

We woke up ready to hit the road again, homeward bound!

We had an uneventful drive home, which is how we like it!  We arrived home safe and sound!

We had an amazing trip and will never forget the beauty of God's creation that we got to explore this year!

Colorado was a new state for us, so we added our sticker to the map to end the trip!

Last Day

This morning the big boys got up early and drove into the National Park to hike Petroglyph Point Trail.

The Petroglyph Point Trail offers excellent views of Spruce and Navajo Canyons and takes you past a large petroglyph panel located 1.4 miles (2.3 km) south of the trailhead. 

The trail follows a foot-worn trail of the Ancestral Pueblo people into the forested Spruce Canyon landscape and along a sometimes steep, rocky path back to the canyon’s rim. At one time, this path connected the community at Spruce Tree House with other outlying sites within the canyon and the rest of the Pueblo world.

The large petroglyph panel seen along the trail represents the written language of the people who inhabited and traveled through this canyon. More than thirty human and animal figures, spirals, and handprints cover an area of over 35 feet wide.  NPS.GOV

While the boys were hiking, Brynn, Kaleb, and I walked up to the campground headquarters to do some laundry.  While the laundry was washing, we sat in the general store and waited since the walk was too far to go back to the camper.

Kaleb browsed the store while we were waiting and was so excited to find a nameplate with his name on it!

The boys made it back from their hike in time to drive us home from the campground laundromat.

They had a great time on their hike and came back exhausted and hungry!

We ate lunch at the camper and then drove into town to visit a local Indian shop and neighboring coffee shop.  We enjoyed the vibe of Cattle Drive Coffee, along with the A/C and free wifi!

On our way back to the campground, we stopped by the National Park Visitor Center.

It was less crowded today than it was yesterday when we were here.  We were able to see inside the windows of the vault.  It was fascinating to see items that were discovered in the dwellings.

We bought a few souvenirs and then headed back to camp.  The view from our campground never gets old!

After dinner at camp, we went up to headquarters to check out so that we could hit the road and head for home first thing in the morning.  We got a little ice cream treat and ate it on the patio together.

There was one more trail we wanted to hike in our campground before we left.

Pets weren't allowed on the trail, so the pups had to stay behind in the camper.

The Ancestral Pueblo people survived and thrived as farmers in a challenging environment. They were keen observers of the sky, who left behind plentiful evidence of their sophisticated astronomical knowledge. Once the sun sets, park visitors can experience a night sky very similar to what the Ancestral Pueblo people saw a millennium ago. The night skies above Mesa Verde are an important cultural resource, as well as a draw for visitors seeking spectacular views of the heavens above.

Today, Mesa Verde sits at the center of the darkest skies remaining in the contiguous United States. The region's high elevation, arid climate, sparse population, and clear skies all contribute to exceptional stargazing opportunities.

In 2021, Mesa Verde was certified as the world's 100th International Dark Sky Park, in recognition of the park's ongoing efforts to preserve and protect our naturally dark skies.

Our camera didn't do the night sky justice.  We've never experienced anything as beautiful as the sky that we saw.  We laid out under the stars on our camper mat, just gazing at their beauty.  It was an amazing experience to see the beauty that God created!  I'm so thankful for our RV life and the opportunities to see and enjoy the world He created!

 

Mesa Verde National Park

For over 700 years, the Ancestral Pueblo people built thriving communities on the mesas and in the cliffs of Mesa Verde. Today, the park protects the rich cultural heritage of 26 Pueblos and Tribes and offers visitors a spectacular window into the past. This World Heritage Site and International Dark Sky Park is home to over a thousand species, including several that live nowhere else on earth. -NPS.gov

There is a one-mile winding path with a 100-foot descent and ascent that leads to The Step House.

The Step House alcove is unique at Mesa Verde because it provides clear archeological evidence of two separate occupations—a Basketmaker III (BM III) pithouse community dating to the early 600s CE, and a Pueblo III (P III) masonry pueblo dating to the 1200s. Basketmaker III sites are difficult to locate within alcoves because of later cliff dwelling activity. But because the Step House pueblo was built on the south end of the 300-foot (91 m) long alcove, it left at least part of the BM III site undisturbed. The six pithouses located here clearly indicate that at least some individuals chose to build their homes in alcoves a good six centuries before the construction of the now famous cliff dwellings.

After we finished this area, we passed by the cafe on our way to the next area.  We stopped in for lunch, coffee, and gift shop browsing.

Onward we drove to see some more dwellings.  It is quite a drive to get to the different parts of the park where the dwellings are.

The Cliff Palace Overlook is the first stop 6-mile (10 km) Cliff Palace Loop Road. Recent studies reveal that Cliff Palace contained 150 rooms and 23 kivas and had a population of approximately 100 people. Out of the nearly 600 cliff dwellings concentrated within the boundaries of the park, 75% contain only 1-5 rooms each, and many are single room storage units. If you visit the Cliff Palace overlook you will view an exceptionally large dwelling which may have had special significance to the original occupants. It is thought that Cliff Palace was a social, administrative site with high ceremonial usage.

Sandstone, mortar, and wooden beams were the three primary construction materials for the cliff dwellings. The Ancestral Pueblo people shaped each sandstone block using harder stones collected from nearby river beds. The mortar between the blocks is a mixture of local soil, water, and ash. Fitted in the mortar are tiny pieces of stone called "chinking." Chinking stones filled the gaps within the mortar and added structural stability to the walls. Over the surface of many walls, the people decorated with earthen plasters of pink, brown, red, yellow, or white -- the first things to erode with time.

We had the best time exploring this area.  The dwellings and the history fascinated us!  This was one of our favorite days and this park quickly moved to the top of our list of favorites!

When we got back to camp we cooked dinner and then took the dogs for a walk around the campground.  Mule deer are very abundant here!

We had a nice surprise when we saw two large bucks grazing!

We had another good day exploring God's beautiful creation!