Day 13 - Mesa Verde NP
Packed up and left Moab before 10, got to the Cortez, CO hotel too early for check-in, and arrived at Mesa Verde around noon. It was a bad sign when the entry person was not taking money ,and told us that the first guided cliff house tour available was 3:30.
We endured a dreadful twisting ride of about an hour ,25 miles, south to the Visitors Center. There was heavy road construction in progress and one-way traffic, etc. By this time, the first tour was 5 pm, and Jill decided to forget it. I can’t blame her.
We endured a dreadful twisting ride of about an hour ,25 miles, south to the Visitors Center. There was heavy road construction in progress and one-way traffic, etc. By this time, the first tour was 5 pm, and Jill decided to forget it. I can’t blame her.
We toured the park on our own and unfortunately it was disappointing. The distances were long, the first 25 miles of road bad, there had been a forest fire a couple of years ago resulting in large swaths of dead trees. Plus, the signage was poor and maintenance had been deferred for years and it was our most crowded park. We should have planned better but there would have been only so much we could have done.
The girls did take a hike to one dwelling that was viewable without a tour - Spruce House I think. We saw a couple of overlooks and the main Cliff Palace from afar. Overall it was a very disappointing experience, though. Even though we bagged the tour, we still did not get back to Cortez until about 6. A long day.
We checked into our King Suite, not nearly as nice as a condo, and went out to dinner at Jenelle and Jack’s Country Kitchen, a local place where the girls had Navajo Tacos and I had fried fish for a whopping $30. It was good down home stuff.
Went in the ok pool and Kristen went in the awesome giant indoor hot tub too.
Day 14 >>>
The girls did take a hike to one dwelling that was viewable without a tour - Spruce House I think. We saw a couple of overlooks and the main Cliff Palace from afar. Overall it was a very disappointing experience, though. Even though we bagged the tour, we still did not get back to Cortez until about 6. A long day.
We checked into our King Suite, not nearly as nice as a condo, and went out to dinner at Jenelle and Jack’s Country Kitchen, a local place where the girls had Navajo Tacos and I had fried fish for a whopping $30. It was good down home stuff.
Went in the ok pool and Kristen went in the awesome giant indoor hot tub too.
Day 14 >>>
