Mesa Verde to Grand Canyon National Park

August 10th

We only had about 5 hours of driving this day, so we decided to explore Mesa Verde in the morning and get out of the park by noon. We took the hour-long driving tour which followed one of the mesas along the top. A very beautiful drive!

We got out at the Cliff Palace excavation site, but did not have time to take the hike. The hike would have taken another hour, plus we would have had to climb a really tall ladder to get to the site. If you would like more information on Cliff Palace, click HERE to find out more information about this fascinating cultural site.

The ancestral Pueblo people, also called the Anasazi, used ladders to get to the different levels.
The circular areas, called kivas I think,  are used for a large variety of purposes. 

I try to get all fancy and do "photography" with my real camera whenever I get a chance. On these trips, that tends to turn towards animals and plants. Here are a few plants that I discovered at Mesa Verde National Park:

The boys earned their Junior Ranger badges to add to their vests from last year. Unfortunately, I forgot to pack them so we will have to wait to put them on until we get home.

After we left Mesa Verde, it was a short 5 hours of driving to get to the Grand Canyon. Along the way, we stopped at the Four Corners, the only place in the US where four states meet at the corners. Surprisingly, this is not a National Monument, but the Navajo Nation runs it and created a nice place to take a cheesy tourist photo. 

After that the drive was pretty uneventful. It sprinkled on and off and there weren't very many towns. Just the occasional herd of cattle. 

Towards the end of the drive, we started to see canyons. Some of them were pretty deep. This was the northern tip of the Grand Canyon that is part of a National Forest I think. 

We entered through the east side entrance so had to drive another 25 miles to get to Grand Canyon Village and our campground.  There was only 1 "animal gawker" traffic jam when these elk were grazing along the side of the road. 

We got our campsite set up, ate cheese and sausage for dinner, and than went to sleep. The stars were beautiful and I did take a picture but I was too exhausted to play around with the night options to get actual stars to show in the photos, so just went to sleep. Satisfyingly exhausted :)