Mesa Verde, Colorado…

Sue and I stopped at interesting spots on our way home from Tinfiny Ranch earlier this month, and one of them was Mesa Verde National Park.   I first went there on the 2005 Three Flags Rally with my buddy Marty.  On that visit, Marty and I were only there for a quick stop, and I knew it was a place that needed more time.

At the Mesa Verde National Park entrance. It would be another 1000-ft climb and 14 miles of glorious twisties to get to the good stuff.

Mesa Verde is just outside of Cortez, in southwestern Colorado.  It’s a great little town.

The whole idea behind Mesa Verde National Park is that Native Americans lived in advanced cliff dwellings about a thousand years ago.  It’s real Indiana Jones stuff.

A shot I showed on Facebook a week or so ago. Folks told me it looked fake, and I needed a photo with some people in it to give a sense of scale.
As requested.

The place was amazing.  We were up on a huge mesa looking down into dramatic canyons, and these dwellings were built into overhangs and crevasses in the canyon walls…

The Tower structure. Several of these little villages had a tower like the one you see in this photo. Maybe the chiefs lived there?
Another hamlet.
A view from across the canyon at another set of dwellings, this time with my 70-300 lens. All of the other photos were with a 24-120 lens.

While we were there, we met a nice young guy named Tom, a Canadian artist traveling through the US on a motorcycle…

Captain Tom…
Tom’s ride, a rented Honda Africa Twin.

Tom was an interesting man and a world traveler.  He gave his card to us and I visited Tom’s website.   He’s been to many of the same spots Sue and I have visited, including Turkey (one of the world’s best-kept tourist destination secrets) and southeast Asia (another best-kept secret).  You should take a peek at Tom’s site; it’s awesome.

Cool stuff, to be sure.   One last Mesa Verde photo today, folks…my signature selfie…

In the painted bumper of my blue Subie…

When we were planning this trip, I asked Gobi (that’s Joe Gresh) what he recommended on the ride back to California. One of his suggestions was the Petrified Forest in Arizona.   That’s next, folks.   Stay tuned!