Thursday, June 18, 2009

Camping at Mesa Verde

We "met in the middle" with my family to explore Mesa Verde in Colorado. It took us all a while to get there and we chose our campsite in the dark. We were glad it turned out to be a good one. We stayed in a group site together, which was really nice. The groups sites are more spread out from one another so you can wander more and not be bothered by noise as much.

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It was at this first look out that we figured out you need tickets for tours to get close to most of the ruins. And most of the hikes include 100+ ft ladders to climb up and down to get to them. So we spoke with the ranger and she told us of some family-friendly areas we could get close to without dangerous hikes or paying for a guided tour.

Here we start our hike:

Me with my sister, Angela, and Abigail on my shoulders
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Grandma with Corinne on her back
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My sister, Amber, with her husband, Steve
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Angela with Annika on her back
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I think the kids loved having so many options for piggy-backs during the hikes!

Here are Ashley and Megan
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My sister Hannah and her husband, Will
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The kids in front of the ruins
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One of the fun things here was climbing down into a Kiva (an underground room).
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Inside the Kiva (pictures are taken with a flash, it was pretty dark in there)
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It started to rain a bit while on our hike, but we had checked the weather before coming and were prepared
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Here we are being rebels just for a picture!
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I think half of the hike Eve kept Aunt Angela busy as they hunted for the best dandelion puffs to blow.
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This was day one, I'll have to do day two on another post!

2 comments:

angela said...

Okay, so crazy. We're planning a trip with the Fears midway distance as well. I was thinking Mesa Verde, but didn't know if it would be too hot in August. So email me ajones07@gmail.com or talk to Tara and give us the details on what the campgrounds are like, how kid friendly, etc, etc. Is it a mountainous campground or more desert like? What a coincidence! Looked like you had fun with your family!

Lorraine said...

Looks like a fantastic vacation!