Breaking down Day 4 in our Southwest USA Screensaver Family Road Trip through Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. So, what did we do as we explored Mesa Verde National Park?
This day was the main reason we came. A few months ago, my husband had a screen saver image of Mesa Verde pop up between meetings at work. He forwarded me the picture and said we needed to visit someday. So, one week before we left we were talking about going somewhere and agreed we should tackle this one and not wait for someday!
Mesa Verde National Park is one of the premier National Parks, in our opinion. It tells the story of the early Pueblo people and provides access to their cliff dwellings that were created more than 1200 years ago and inhabited for nearly 700 years.
The pictures don’t do it justice. To see the details of the structures, you miss the magnitude of the rocks they are caved in to. Even with my wild and crazy imagination, I have a hard time figuring out how they got to the remote locations and then to think about the fact that they came and went from those spots as well. I had never heard of this place until Chris sent me the screensaver shot and I was just blown away.
Let’s just put it this way, you HAVE TO GO!
What did we do on our day trip to Mesa Verde National Park?
- stop at the Mesa Verde National Park Visitor Center when you arrive. Potty break, exhibits, purchase tour tickets and buy all the things. This is where we purchased the National Parks Passport and started with our first stamps.
SPECIAL NOTE: at the Durango Visitor Center the day before, we got advice from the Ranger there. We told her we needed spots for us to use a stroller or easy walks if we needed to put Little Man in a pouch. So, the places we stopped were from that and a few others we self-selected. We did not do any of the guided tours because they require climbing a lot of steps and wooden ladders. So, check those out of that’s you, even though we did not do them.
- Note, it is still an hour drive into the heart of the park, so your first views are grand vistas.
- Montezuma Outlook – these were our first views inside the park and were just beautiful where you were surrounded by rocks yet could see forever.
- Geological Outlook – its exactly what you think it is, but it’s cool to pull off and see the views
- Cliff Palace Loop – this is a pretty big parking lot and its where you would go for the Cliff Palace tour, but there are still some quick views if you are only driving through.
- You cannot see Cliff Palace or balcony house without a ticket. But the Window House pullout is really cool. I stepped out, took pictures and came back to the car so Chris could go see. When he came back he was talking about how cool it was and I felt like I missed something. I went back with the zoom lenses on my camera and he was right. Use the landmark of the 4 trees on the ridge to help you find your bearings and the cliff dwellings you can see from this spot. We pulled off and had Indian Fry Bread from a native Navajo woman and her granddaughter. Special, cultural moment and a great stop for Little Man to get out and play in the dirt for a moment.
- Spruce Tree House has a restaurant and we stopped for lunch. Service was slow because it was super busy, but the food was awesome and it was cool. Also a store and good bathrooms.
- Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum was a good indoor spot to stop. With a little one, it’s hard to look at anything, but it was a contained space he could walk around and we could read really fast. The dioramas in the first hallway were pretty cool depicting the life of the early Puebloan people.
- Walk out to Spruce Tree House behind the museum. We stayed up top and just took in the views from the back of the Ranger Station, but I so wanted to walk down the trail and see it unobstructed. The stroller could have done it because it is a paved path, but it was super hot and we did not have sunscreen. But, do it.
- NOTE – if you only are driving through, then get to this part of the park and then take the Mesa Top Loop – its what you came to see!
- if you do nothing else, take the Mesa Top Loop. This is where you will see all of the “across” views of the cliff house dwellings. Unbelievable. Truly amazing the ingenuity and settlements of these early dwellers. And it’s over 700 years old. Go slow, get out of the car with your binoculars or camera zoom lens and look at the dwellings.
Many people just make the drive to, or through the park and move on. I would plan to spend a better part of your day here. Be here at 7:30 am when the park opens and take it all in. I think this would be an incredible place to experience a sunrise or sunset, but you need to plan according to park times. I mean, how often do you return to visit a National Park?
How did we spend the rest of our day to the area around Mesa Verde National Park?
- drove to Cortes because we were close. I’d remove that from the itinerary and just see it when you drive through to the Grand Canyon.
- Then we went on to the Four Corners Monument (AZ, NM, UT, CO – all come together in one spot that is part of the Navajo reservation, although this is also the dividing line of the Navajo and Ute reservations) We knew we would travel along this same road later in the week to go to the Grand Canyon, but we knew we would not have time for a stop. I’m glad we went because we had all the time in the world to take the windy picture and shop from the Native local artisans. If you don’t want the extra miles and you do have time on your way to the Grand Canyon, then you can wait on this too.
- ordered Serious TX BBQ for pick up on our way back to the hotel. It was serious good and helped us have a non-fast food meal that was relatively healthy and still light and it was BBQ.
- dinner in the lobby and playing at the pool before bedtime. Little Man has not spent much time in a pool so this was a fun time to play together and the other kids and families were really respectful.
- If you are one who is spending a couple of weeks on the road or packed light, this would be a good night to catch up and do some laundry. The mom of the family sharing the pool with us was in the laundry room in our hotel while they played and read. I thought it was a great idea.
This adventure to Mesa Verde National Park also kicked off our quest to fill our National Park Passport. Little Man got his passport and we started collecting stamps and stickers on the rest of our route. We missed stamps at the Aztec Ruins spot on our way in, but we can get it later!
- We have these National Park spots in Arkansas on our list.
- We have these National Park spots in Texas on our list.
- And of course, we can’t wait to go back sometime and do the “Grand Loop” and visit several National Park sites.
- What other spots might be easy for us to access from Arkansas?
Southwest USA Screensaver Epic Family Road Trip Itinerary
If you missed any of the previous posts from this epic family road trip with a toddler, check out the full itinerary below:
