Mesa Verde National Park & on to Albuquerque

This was the last true day of our vacation with Allyson as we would stop for the night in Albuquerque. After leaving Arches and after our stop at "Hole in the Rock" we did travel on to Cortez, CO. We got our hotel room, ate dinner, splashed in the pool, (Ma Turner was a party pooper cause I didn't get into the pool) and then finished the night with ice cream. What else could we do, Dairy Queen was across the street.

We were up early, before eight and headed for the short drive to Mesa Verde. Now I didn't know too much about this park before we got there, so I learned a lot on this day.

Our first stop after entering the park was the Park Point Overlook. You can see for hundreds of miles up there. It is the highest point in the park at 8572 feet.

We then traveled on to the Visitor Center, looked at the exhibits there and headed off on another long adventure. Let me just say that Allyson was the best traveler we could have had. She went hiking with us and didn't complain too much about our long days.

We then took the long twisty road to the Wetherill Mesa, named after the ranchers who discovered the ruins found here. We took the tram to the "Badger House" community which are a group of four ruins from different time periods.

We caught the tram again and the driver, a very knowledgeable park service employee, stopped at a couple of other sites, namely the Kodak House and the Long House.

Then back on the road to the Chapin Mesa which is the most developed area of the park. We stopped at the Chapin Mesa museum which was very informative, saw the Spruce Tree House, from a distance, Took the Mesa Top Loop, and then finished up with the Cliff palace Loop which had numerous stops and lots of dwellings built under the mountain overhangs.

It is certainly a place I want to visit again, in cooler weather, to do hiking and visit the different houses that have been found.

After leaving Mesa Verde our destination was "Four corners" where Allyson wanted to be in four states at one time. However, we forgot to stop and get some cash and the Interagency Indian Council does not take debit cards, so didn't get to stop there. So we headed south to Shiprock, Farmington, Bloomington, and Cuba, arriving in Albuquerque at 9:30 Thursday night.

And so ended Allyson's Adventure with Grandma Turner. We would have more fun times during our stay in Albuquerque, but this special time I had with Allyson and Michelle on our journey will always be a special memory for me. Thanks guys.