Four corners & Mesa Verde

Thursday, June 28^th

After visiting the Aztec Ruins we drove to Four Corners (Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado). There wasn't much to see at the For Corners besides the big monument. We saw signs for Indian Fry Bread and were quite disappointed when the stand was closed.

We consoled ourselves with some yummy Mexican food in Cortez, Colorado where we spent the night.

Friday, June 29^th

Our first stop of the day was Mesa Verde.  Seth and I both went on family trips to Mesa Verde when we were four or five…but don’t have many solid memories from the place.  The park was absolutely beautiful.  

     

We were able to secure tickets to visit the Balcony House and the Cliff Palace.  The tour of the Balcony House was first. We had to climb a 30 foot ladder to get in.

We found out the infant mortality rate was about 50%...they lived on a cliff after all.  Our ranger was a bit of a curmudgeon...I don't blame him there were some fairly annoying tourist videotaping the entire tour and not really paying attention to the cliffs.

We had to climb out a tunnel and up three more ladders to get out of the Balcony House as well. It was a tight squeeze through the tunnel.

Our next tour was of the Cliff Palace. This is what I think of when I think of Mesa Verde.

We made a stop by the Post Office for the park…hopefully many of you got post cards stamped from Mesa Verde. Then we visited the Spruce Tree House. We were able to climb down into a reconstructed Kiva.

I am very grateful I don't have to grind my corn and wheat the old fashion way.  The ranger told us that some of the rock came off in the grinding and wore down teeth enamel.

On our way out of Mesa Verde we pulled into the Burger Boy Drive In for lunch. Then we continued our drive to Salt Lake.

We had a wonderful time on our road trip.  Our favorite part was seeing our friends and family all along the way.  We found it fascinating to see the trees of the East start to thin out and disappear as we headed West.   The change from humidity to dry heat was also very pleasant.   We love being back in Utah but our hearts still ache for South Carolina.