Mesa Verde National Park

We spent the day in Mesa Verde National Park near Cortez, Colorado. The Pueblo Indians built homes in the cliffs here about 1000 years ago and the ruins have been preserved for us to see.

From the museum we looked down at the Spruce Tree House seen here.
We then hiked about a half mile down to the structure.







The Structure built back into the natural overhang in the sandstone was home to between 60 and 90 Pueblo Indians some 900 years ago.

They lived here for 75 to 100 years before moving on. Since the life expectancy was about 35 years this was home to about three generations of Pueblo.



They had to carry all the materials into the cliff since they had no mules or other beasts of burden to help them. What an amazing feat!

We also looked down at the biggest of the dwellings called the Cliff Palace. While we didn't get to go down to it we were still in awe of the structure.

Still another view of the ruins of Cliff place. We did some hiking in the park and called it a day. Tomorrow is a rest day with a little local touring before heading to Santa Fe on Wednesday.

 

Canyon Lands National Park

We visited Canyon Lands National Park yesterday. it's about 25 miles from Moab and located where the Green River and the Colorado River meet. I'm just going to post a few pictures without my usual ramblings because it's Sunday and I'm lazy! 

Looks a lot like the Grand Canyon.

A long hike took us to this point.









Another view from the same point.

The Colorado River Southwest of Moab.








Best view of the day!




We're in Mesa Verde, Colorado at the moment and we'll visit the cliff dwellings tomorrow.

Arches National Park

Today was Arches National Park day and what a day it was!

Near the entrance we were greeted by this rock formation. The sandstone rock has been eroded and what remains are columns of rock rising out of the desert.

This is called Balanced rock for obvious reasons. It looks like it shouldn't remain upright but somehow it does.

It's a short drive to Delicate arch where we saw this amazing arch standing in the desert. We hiked about a half mile uphill to get this view.





Another short drive and we hiked to Windows arches. Here we were able to hike under the arch and view this incredible structure.

Looking West from Windows we saw another rock formation with still another arch.

We hiked back to the car and continued our tour of the park. It's an incredible place and not to be missed when in Southeastern Utah.
Tonight we tour the little town of Moab and tomorrow we'll visit Canyon lands National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park. Then after a night of rest we'll head to Mesa Verde Colorado,

Goblin Valley near Green River Utah

Today we visited a beautiful but little known State park near Green River. 






The rock formations are created by erosion with the harder sandstone eroding slower than the softer siltstone. Hence we have these unusual shapes they call
Goblins.





The area is large and magical rock formations are everywhere. We hiked to the far ridge taking our time to name some of the formations.

This one we named "ET" for obvious reasons.

Friends Ken and Beth joined us in Green River and we spent about two  hours hiking in the valley.





Ken is holding up the rock...... no he's not pushing it over

One last formation. These I called the "Chinese Children" since the looked like children from the Disney ride It's a Small World
Goblin Valley is a pretty amazing place and we really enjoyed our time there. Off to Moab tomorrow.

Fall RV trip

Greetings from Sat Lake City. We're breaking with tradition ( and that's going to Oregon and Washington in the fall) this year and have headed East on interstate 80 to Salt Lake City.

We've spent the past three days touring the city and most of the time has been spent in Temple Square. The architecture is incredible and there's lots to take in. The grounds are immaculate and our Mormon guides on our many tours are outstanding. More information on the Mormon faith than I thought possible. After three days if I'm not  a Mormon I guess I'll never become one.

On Sunday morning we boarded a tour bus for a full day of visiting the city. It's a great way to see the sights and not have to worry about traffic. Our first stop was at the Mormon Tabernacle to hear the choir. What an amazing concert. A half hour of super music from the 385 voice choir with full orchestra accompanying them. It was a highlight of our time here.

 Last night we visited with friends we haven't seen in a long time. It was a special evening and they took time out of their weekend to see us.
A  wonderful evening and thanks Pam!

This morning we headed back to Temple Square to visit the Mormon conference center. It is truly a wonder. In the main auditorium seen here there is seating for 21,000 and it is host to conferences and Choir performances at Christmas time and during the summer when visitors overwhelm the Tabernacle.
Tomorrow it's off to Green River in South Eastern Utah to meet friends and visit Goblin Valley State Park then on to Moab, Utah. More from there.