The Lee Family: Day Two: Exploring Mesa Verde

We woke up at 8am determined to get an earlier start and planned to visit Mesa Verde National Park as well as Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, which is just west of Mesa Verde. We knew it would be a long day and wanted to get started. We ended up leaving our room at 9am and visited Jean-Pierre Bakery at the end of our block. The French bakery and restaurant was fantastic, but the prices were seriously outrageous! We ended up getting two coffees, filled croissants and the girls had hot cocoa, apple juice and cinnamon rolls. Not exactly the healthiest breakfast, but it sure beat paying over $15 for an egg sandwich on croissant! We loaded up in the car and drove the 35 minutes to Mesa Verde National Park, marveling at all the incredible vistas and landscape along the way. Sofia mainly read her book, Fablehaven and Olivia sucked her thumb while CK drove.

We arrived at Mesa Verde Visitor Center and couldn't believe how windy and cold it was outside. We went inside and read about the Ancestral Pueblo people who made the area their home for over 700 years, from AD 600 to 1300. CK picked up a map and we headed out on our adventure. One perk of being at Mesa Verde in early Spring is that it isn't very crowded, but the downside is that a lot of the hiking trails and archeological sites aren't open to explore yet. We drove toward the far end of the park as suggested by the park ranger and stopped at most of the overlook areas along the way. The views of the valley beyond are spectacular! We continued on to the Mesa Archeological Museum, where we went to the bathroom before going on our tour of the Cliff Palace Loop. It was so amazing! We saw the Cliff Palace from a small platform just above and across from the dwelling. It almost looks like it was all just build recently! It would be quite spectacular to be able to hike up to it, but it's closed for visits until the summer. After taking a bunch of pictures, we got back into the car and drove on to Soda Canyon Trail, which is a 1.2 mile trail to on overlook of the Balcony House, which is also closed for the season. We parked a few times prior to stopping for our hike and the girls were really excited to get out and hike! We gave them granola bars and peanuts to snack on before we got out and headed on Soda Canyon Trail.

The girls ran ahead and pretended that they were being followed by battle droids (from Star Wars). Soon, they both had shed their hats, gloves, and jackets and ran all over the place and explored the trial. We made it to the end and took photos of the Balcony House, which also is amazingly well preserved. We continued on to another overlook and marveled at the views of the valley and mesas. As beautiful as the landscape is, we agreed that we couldn't imagine living 140 years ago and exploring on horseback the mesas looking for missing cattle in December! This is how Cliff Palace and ultimately Mesa Verde were first discovered. We continued on the trail and headed back to our car. The girls were pretty well done, but we pressed on so we could see as much as possible.

We then drove the Mesa Top Loop and stopped at the Navajo Canyon View Overlook and then stopped to look at Pit houses and Villages, which are the remnants of the original housing created by the Ancestral Pueblo people in AD 700, before they started building substantial structures in the cliff overhangs. The girls were really done then, but we did stop at the Sun Point View and it ended up being one of the most impressive views of several different dwellings called "Sun Temple" that were also in great condition. From there, we headed back to the National Park's entrance. We just didn't have enough time to continue on to the Ancients National Monument. It was already past 2pm and we wanted to get back to town so the girls could play a bit and we could get ready to meet up with my tennis friend, Chris and her husband, Jim. They planned on visiting Durango on their way to pick up a friend flying into Durango later that night. Their daughter, Lauren, agreed to hang out with the girls while we went out to dinner at Seasons.

We met Chris, Jim and Lauren in our hotel lobby and the three girls headed up to our room. Just before they arrived, CK had picked up a cheese pizza from a little place across the street and it looked delicious! We gave the girls $20 so they could slip out and buy ice cream with Lauren at Cold Stone Creamery. Sofia and Olivia were super excited to be hanging out with Lauren, even though they have never met her. They love having a sitter and someone closer to their age.

We said goodbye and the four of us walked to Seasons, where Chris had made a reservation at 7:30. It was a really cozy and nice restaurant and it was fun to get out with adults for a bit on our vacation. Chris is super friendly and easy to talk to and Jim is too. We split a cheese and meats tray before ordering salads and our main course. CK had steak and I had the lamb loin and it was all delicious. We couldn't manage dessert, so we lingered over cappuccinos and then headed back to the room. The girls were curled up around my laptop watching The Water Horse, an older movie about the Loch Ness Monster. We finally got them to bed around 11pm and they were both exhausted, especially Olivia! It was so fun to have a night out.

Enjoying a little cinnamon rolls and hot cocoa while reading before we head to Mesa Verde.