Mesa Verde

The cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park are stunning to behold. It's hard to imagine an entire village tucked into a crack halfway up a cliff face, and harder still to imagine actually living in a place like that.
We saw many incredible places on our cross-country trip, but this one stands out as one of the most moving and awe-inspiring.
We arrived at the park fairly late in the day, and the cliff dwellings themselves were about 25 miles past the campground. So, we decided to set up camp, cook some dinner, and drive out to the cliff dwellings the next morning.
At 5am, we were awakened by a raging storm, with thunder, lightning, high winds and torrential rain/hail. Neither of us could go back to sleep, so we waited until the rain slowed, then crawled out of the tent into a very wet world. Rather than set up the camp stove for coffee and breakfast, we just packed up our soaking wet gear and headed for the gift shop for strong, hot coffee and chocolate donuts. The coffee and donuts were a wonderful remedy to the grumpiness of the morning!
The grumpiness and discomfort of the morning were quickly forgotten once we made it to the cliff dwellings...as you can probably imagine. What a place!

~OTP

On the way to the cliffs

On the way to the cliffs

Looking down-canyon from the cliff dwelling overlook