Mesa Verde National Park

The second stop of our summer family road trip this past summer was Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde National Park was established in 1906 to preserve and interpret the archaeological heritage of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years, from 600 to 1300 CE. I remember visiting this National Park as a kid and was excited to now share that experience with my kids. We arrived at Mesa Verde on Tuesday evening and stayed in the park's Far View Lodge. As we arrived into the park, a thunderstorm also rolled in, so we decided to just eat dinner at the Metate Room Restaurant at the lodge. It was fun to watch the lighting and hear the thunder as we dined.

The next morning, we awoke, ate breakfast at the Far View Terrace Cafe, and then headed out to see the cliff dwellings. We had made tour reservations for Balcony House in the morning and Cliff Palace in the afternoon. In between tours, we visited the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum so the kids could become Junior Rangers. It was a very fun day of exploration and learning!

After we finished with the last cliff dwelling tour, we continued our road trip to Durango where we stopped for an ice cream cone, and ultimately, our final destination -- a cabin near Vallecito Lake.