Mesa Verde September 27, 2008

On Saturday we went to Mesa Verde with our friends the Whitakers. It was a beautiful drive with all of the leaves changing. There aren't many trees around Monument Valley, so it was nice to see some. There was a fire in Mesa Verde a few years ago- that is why there are dead trees too- but it makes a cool picture!

We went on a guided tour of "Cliff Palace," one of the largest ruins in the United States. This is a view of it from the top- where we started. Yes, we climbed all the way down there- and back up!

These are the scary stairs we had to walk down to get to the ruin. They don't look so bad in the picture, but they are more scary when you are carrying one child on your back and holding a 2 year old's hand! I'm glad I didn't have to scale the cliffs like the people who actually lived here!

This is Spencer and me. I carried Spencer because Devon is a better picture taker. This backpack makes Spencer a lot lighter- but I was sore the next day.

This is Lara climbing up one of the ladders. I could not believe how well Sadie and Lara did. They were regular mountain women!

Lewis carried his daughter Mahrin the whole way. If I was sore the next day I can't imagine how Lewis felt!

This is a closer view of Cliff Palace. It was huge. I just wanted to go inside and see the rooms and stuff. I especially wanted to know how they got to the rooms that were up so high!

So along with a guided tour comes a tour guide. Spencer did not enjoy the part of the tour when you stand still and listen. This is how he felt about it!

These are hand and toe holds that people used to climb in when they lived here. i think their children must have learned to climb before they could walk.

It took Spencer all of about 2 minutes to fall asleep when we got in the car. He zonked out right in the middle of his peanut butter sandwich.

This is us down in a Kiva. A Kiva is a round room underground. They were mostly for religious ceremonies.

On the way out of the park we had to stop to take a picture of the beautiful view of the fall colors and the valley below!