Mesa Verde ^Cliff Palace

Cliff Palace ~ Mesa Verde

Out of all the ruins

at Mesa Verde

I'ld have to say

Cliff Palace

has to be my favorite.

Each one is unique 

incredible in it's own way,

but somehow 

Cliff Palace

stands out 

to me as 

the most memorable 

of them all 

in the way it stretches across the cavern.

Mesa Verde ^Balcony House

Balcony House ~ Mesa Verde

Before visiting,

I had no idea

how many different dwelling sites

and how spread apart

these sites were from each other.

The amount of work that must have gone in to

cutting and hauling

all those rocks.

over the side of a cliff.

Wow these people had no fear.

All this without modern technology~ truly genius.

Such intricacy,

such imagination.

what a difficult life.  We are so blessed to have it so easy.

Pit House, Square Tower Overlook, & Cliff Palace View ^ Mesa Verde

The Pit House, Square Tower Overlook, and

Cliff Palace Overview ~ Mesa Verde

With so much to see,

and only 

a long weekend

to see it in,

we decide

it would be a good idea,

to take in a few of the sights

right away the first afternoon,

as soon as

we had our

campsite set up.

such as the Pit House.

Seeing the dwellings

from across the canyon

was quite a different

experience from

climbing down inside.

I'm glad we took the time to do so ahead of time. 

It gave a much better understanding of what we saw up close the next day.

Mesa Verde Visitor Center

Mesa Verde Visitor Center

When visiting

a new place,

the visitor center,

is a good place

to start.

It often

give a good overview

of the most important

things to see,

as well as

the most effective

plan for seeing

those things.