In July of 2015 we set out on a grand vacation through the southwest. We traveled for 21 days and over 6,000 miles, visiting 5 states and 9 National Parks. We explored new places and met up with old friends. Overall, it was an amazing journey and everyone learned so much. I highly recommend the Foder’s guide to National Parks of the West, we used it when planning our trip and it was a great resource. You can see all my posts about the trip by clicking here.
Day 11 – Mesa Verde National Park
Day 11 took us to one of my favorite National Parks, Mesa Verde. We actually drove to Mesa Verde on day 10, following our hike through the Fiery Furnace. We decided to stay at the Far View Lodge inside the park at Mesa Verde and I’m so glad we did. The kids loved it and there was tons of wildlife roaming around.
On day 11 we started out with an early 700 Years Tour. I had booked this ahead of time and it was a great tour for the kids. Since we had done so much hiking on day 10, they were glad to travel around by bus and just do some short hikes.
We toured the famous Cliff Palace and both kids just loved the history and stories that the Ranger shared with us. My one complaint about Mesa Verde was that the food inside the park was marginal at best. I didn’t realize how bad it would be so we hadn’t stopped to stock up on snacks. Next time I’d make sure the cooler was filled before heading into the park.
