Mesa Verde ~ Fall Break

On our drive back home from El Paso we decided to stop in Cortez, Colorado for the night and to spend some of the next day in Mesa Verde seeing the Indian Ruins. The kids were a bit disappointed that we didn't stay in the 'grandma hotel' again, but were happy when the saw how nice the place was we found. Vika and Ethan got to share the fold out mattress on the floor. It was really funny because she was trying to trade anyone because she kept saying that Ethan likes to cuddle too much! I really thought it was funny to wake up in the morning to find Ethan's half of the bed empty and both of them scrunched back to back on the other side! Adorable. We packed the car and made the gorgeous drive into Mesa Verde.

There really was only one hike and dwelling that we could get to with the wheelchair so that decidion was pretty easy.  We went to see the Spruce Tree House dwelling.  It wasn't really that long of a hike, but it did get pretty steep in spots!  I was happy that Spencer was the one in charge of Mason's safety!

I'm the only one who has visited this area before and none of my family really anticipated what they would see.  It really is pretty incredible to see such amazing dwellings in such obscure places.  They were all amazed.

Mason was really fine and happy until we arrived at the ruins.  I held him most of the time and that helped.  The park rangers had some weird suggestions as to why he was so upset, referring to ancient indian spirits, but I think he just wanted to be moving and not lingering at the noisy stopping point.

Ezra really was enjoying himself and had a hard time following all of the rules and staying in the allowed areas!

 

Lucky for us, not a lot of people noticed that after Ezra climbed down into the Kiva he wet his pants.  It really helped us decide how long to stay, but was a bit embarrasing!  I think everyone saw everything they wanted to see at the Spruce Tree House.

Spencer and I really want to visit and spend a few days either with just our big kids or by ourselves to tour all of the ruins here.  It was well worth the detour on our drive home!