Mesa Verde

We spent two days and one night in Mesa Verde National Park.  It's a fascinating place and has completely renewed  my interest in Ancient Puebloan peoples.  

Kiva:

A lot of the structure itself is original, but has been made stabilized, which means there's been some rebuilding, so I couldn't guess how much of it authentic, but these wooden beams are original:

I spotted this piece of pottery at Cliff Palace.  You can't take it with you:

Another kiva:

Original art (for lack of a better word):

The view from our room at Far View Lodge.  That'd be New Mexico in the distance.  If you turned your head over your left shoulder , you could see Utah:

Cute little chipmunk.  Photograph taken through binoculars.

We saw a lot of deer, some elk, and chipmunks.  At one point, whilst hiking, we heard a deep growl.  Then we smelled feline spray.  Now, I 'm not saying it was a mountain lion, but I'm not ruling it out.  It was a little off-putting because it was early and we were the only ones on the trail.  Thankfully, nothing came of it.  Hesitant tracks:

Soda Canyon:

Unmarked cliff dwellings:

Soda Canyon:

Charlie Brown Xmas tree:

I think that next time we go to Mesa Verde, I'd like to do some tent camping there, so we can be immersed in and surrounded by the wilderness.  The lodge has a great restaurant called the Metate Room -- I'd skip the breakfast, because it's not very good, but their dinners are incredible.  Our table was next to a celebrity's, but we don't even know who he was.  Anyway, it was one of the better meals we had while we were in Colorado.  A tip: you can find pottery bits everywhere in the Coyote Village.