Day 35 and Day 36. Finally fast Wifi.

Let me get you caught up in our shenanigans.

On Friday we left Moab and the heat.  I'm getting in the habit of taking a picture when we leave.  This is what it looked like.

One last arch on our way out of town called "Wilson Arch"

Then Artie settled down in my lap for the ride

The just when we went over the border, it was green!

Lots and lots of green.  So much green in one of the first towns we went through there was a giant white flag with a green cross on it the shape of the cross on the Swedish flag.  A big building was there.  I was curious so I googled it......turns out that had something to do with marijuana.  Once again my ignorance shows through.  At another town there was a smaller version of the flag.  It's building was painted all bright green.  All kinds of advertisements without anything saying cannabis or marijuana.  At least not what I could see from a vehicle driving past.  

We arrived at our camping park at Mesa Verde.  Notice I didn't say RV park.  This was actually inside the National Park.  There was a nice laundromat, showers, general store, and small hamburger restaurant with outside seating.

This is the view about 6 thousand feet up driving in to the park area.

Here we are parked for 2 nights, and here is the road we are camped on.  It filled in quickly

And now for the flowers around the campground.  I wish they came out better.

This had a very thisley stem and leaves.  The flower was kind of pretty,  I think I saw a yellow one, too.

So pretty

I took this picture because this was three times as big as dandelions.  Since I didn't see a flower I don't know what it looks like, but I wonder if it is in the same family.

There was a black bear about 1 mile away with cubs.  After the last maulings in Alaska, I'm a little bit nervous about this.  We did see several deer.  They came very close, even up to the trailer.  

On our first day there it was only about 2 in the afternoon, so we went to the visitor center.  Richard and I got a booklet called a "passport"  Whenever we go to a National Park or Monument we can have it stamped and buy a sticker for the book.  This is the statue outside.  I didn't really "get it" until I looked at the Pueblo dwellings the next day.

We got our stamps, I got a refrigerator magnet (something we collect) and a smashed penny (I have been collecting them since childhood).

This was outside of the visitor's center.  The visitor's center didn't have much more than the usual little gift shop and places to sign up for tours.  The museum pics come later.  Richard had been wanting to go on a tour of a dwelling.  I had told him ahead of time that I wasn't going because I would slow everybody down.  It was all unknown.  The last hike I had been on it was 95 degrees and the steps upward really bothered me.  

So instead I did the laundry, which really needed to be done.  I also had a few hours to read.  I like having time to read.  I couldn't go anywhere because Richard had the truck.  I also went to this little burger joint.  It had paintings on the wall that showed the different groups that had lived in the area, and there time periods.  Each panel was a different time.  

The next day.

Richard really enjoyed his tour.  In order to actually go up and close to the dwellings you had to take a tour, and as you know, I didn't, but we went driving around to see them.  

The first stop was the museum.  I am always excited when I see a cactus blooming.

They farmed corn, squash, and beans that were similar to pinto beans.

I was fascinated with the sandals on display.  To the left is a sandal, and the right is a pot stand.

This is a bag made from an entire sheep's skin.  The only opening was where the neck had been.

More sandals.  The one on the left reminded me of flip flops.  Probably better made..............The sandals are made from yucca plants.  Pictures show how they pound the yucca with rocks.  Inside are fibers that are used for the baskets, sandals, and paint brushes.  I'm sure there was more, too.

Some pottery on display

They also made paint brushes from the yucca plant.  Can you read what it says?  It says they would chew one end of the leaf to expose the fibers.

This is a rock on a platform that is on a slant.  This is what they used to grind the corn.  I have several corn grinding songs that I've used at school, and I pass around Indian corn to show the colors.

Now I have some visuals to show, and I need to remember to call it maize.  Google the difference between maize and corn.  

This tapestry was hanging in the movie room (every park has a movie!).  you can see the ladies grinding the corn.

I thought this rather humorous.  Chew the corn meal until the saliva changes the starch to sugar.  Mix chewed meal with more meal until a stiff batter results..........I can't wait to read that to the kindergarteners!  

Here is one of the better pictures showing grinding corn.  I cut off the top of the lady because it wasn't G rated.  It is true to life, but I don't need to try to explain that to the kids.  They get embarrassed when they see a picture of someone in a bathing suit.  

I took this picture because this is our school mascot.  

I saw one of these flying two days ago.

So, if you have been reading my blog you know about my obsession over juniper trees.  Here is one cut open.  WOW, the wood is beautiful!

And here is another plaque about the tree.  lol.  

I just thought this was a really cool picture.  I had to make an odd angle to not get the glare from the window.

This was flat under glass, it is sand painting.

Here is one of the figures up close.

And now to the dwellings.  This is the first one I saw.  They don't have tours to this one anymore because of roofs caving in.  Imagine about 60 people living here.

I took this so you could look at what is above the house.  All flat land.  Getting in and out of these places took ladders they made.

This is just how the outside of the museum looked.

A yucca plant.  It isn't the best picture, and the flowers have already withered.

This plant had fruit

I took a picture of this because I don't know how anyone can call for help when there is no cell service there.  

Anyway, moving on to another cactus flower.....

This one I believe is the one called palace.  If I am correct, then this is the one that Richard toured.  

See the crowd of people down there?  Shows you how big it really is.  Maybe 100 lived there.  They called the dwellings apartments because they were stacked up like apartment buildings would be.  They estimate around 100 people lived here.  The black you see at the top is where rain comes down.  The round buildings were kivas.  They were ceremonial and religious rooms.  They would have been covered.

In the far right were ladders to climb up to get out.  The tour was called strenuous, but Richard said i could have easily done it.  I wouldn't have had trouble on the ladders, I like climbing.  Add it to the list for next time.  Richard and I were discussing today how this trip was more like a "Let's see what is out there, and what we like."  Then we'll come back.  I would like to hike the easy hike into Bryce.  If it is cooler maybe I'd do the longer hike.  I'd like to stop at more curiosity shops.  I would like to go back to Zion to figure out which is the white throne.  I'd like to ride the train in Durango and go to its museums.  I don't think there is enough money and time in my life to do everything, and go to Italy, too!

here is a panorama to show you what the countryside looks like.  We are on top of the mesa verde.  Mesa Verde means green table.  Imagine many cuts into the green table, many, many canyons.  Over many, many miles.  All those are cliffs.  There are 600 sites of houses there.  Plus more archeological sites.  The palace is the biggest one.  You drive for several hours around parking here and there to look at the sites.

Pretty big place.

Here is a small section of the panorama.

If you look in the center of this close-up you can see about 4 windows of a dwelling.  After seeing this, I can understand the statue I posted earlier of the man with a basket on his back climbing up.

This one is called Square Tower.  I thought it was pretty cool.  Shows how they made tall apartment buildings

More of a close up.

This was on top of the cliffs on the "Green Table"  It was made of bricks and was used for ceremonies.  We could touch this one up close.

Peeking inside a small window

The other side had a flower growing inside.

I tried to stand on a rock and hold the camera up, but this is all I could get a pic of, probably a drain spout.

The wall outside

And outside a restaurant was this yucca plant with the flower just starting to wilt.

This was my drink for lunch.

We drove into town for some groceries and other things.  Richard is loosing weight and needed new shorts.  I wish I could say the same.  At least I don't think I'm gaining weight.   

This rock is called Point Lookout.  Remember the fins we saw in Bryce?  There were fins here, too, and this is the one on the end.  I took the picture at the beginning of the road you drive on to get into the park.

The blue dot here shows our campsite.  Look for point lookout towards the top of the pic.  ABove the white circle you can see the switchbacks going up the hill.  We were parked at about 7,000 feet.

Here is one of the deer that was hanging around.

Both nights there was a ranger presentation.  The first night was a man giving the history of National Parks.  He had a guitar and we sang three songs.

This night was Karly, and she made us sing and some did the dance, "Hokey Pokey."  Well, this music teacher is tired of this song, but I still participated.  

Well, this picture was taken this morning as we were leaving.  It is another picture taken from the top looking out to the valley far below.

Oh my, Richard, are we going into the Rockies?

yes, look we are higher than snow.  We were at about 10,000 feet.

Here we are at the end of the blog.  I took some good pictures of the sunset and the Rio Grande.  That was a surprise!  I had no idea it was up here.  It is bed time, and I will do more blogging another day.  We are meeting friends tomorrow, so I don't know how much I'm going to say.

Ta Ta For Now!