Our last day in Colorado was also my big boy's 8th birthday!
Will requested French toast for breakfast, so that's what he got!
Will had opened most of his presents at his party, but we brought along a couple of small gifts to open on his actual birthday. He got the new Okee Dokee Brothers CD
and a puzzle book called Maze.
Once breakfast was over and the kitchen cleaned up, we headed back to Mesa Verde to explore the other half of the park. The park is huge and there's no way to see everything in one day, and our $15 entry fee was good for an entire week, so it was a no-brainer to spend our last day of vacation there.
On Monday, we visited the less crowded Wetherill Mesa, where the only modes of transportation are foot trails and trams.
We arrived just before 10 am and were able to hop on the very first tram of the day. All the other visitors were going on a guided tour of Long House, but we were heading to the Badger House Community.
We were the very first visitors of the day and our tram driver told us to keep an eye out for yellow-headed collared lizards that are bright aquamarine. We didn't find any, but we did see regular little lizards,
lots of flowers,
and even a few birds.
We also saw a lot of fire damage from the Pony Fire of 2000. Mesa Verde has seen five large wildfires, usually caused by lightning, in recent years, and more than half the park has been burned.
We learned that the heat from the fire was so intense that the earth was basically sterilized and trees have not been able to grow back (even when humans try to help by planting seeds). Shrubs like the yellow rabbitbrush below grow well, and the yucca is twice its normal size in this part of the park.
Along the trail, we saw four mesa top sites (pithouses and kivas), including the stockaded village below.
The Wetherill Mesa was a quiet, peaceful place.
After walking the Badger House Community Trail, we hopped back on the tram and got off at two overlooks to view, from afar, the Kodak House
and the Long House.
After our tram tour, we took a hot hike down to Step House, where we saw a pithouse from around 600 AD
as well as Classic Pueblo period cliff dwellings.
Step House is unique because the Ancestral Puebloans actually used rocks to create steps down to their home, rather than relying just on hand- and foot-holds. The rocks below show the steps of Step House.
It is a quiet, beautiful place.
After spending the morning exploring the Wetherill Mesa, we headed back up to the center of the park to find lunch. Our final hike of the day was fortunately under cloudy skies and the temperature was a good 10 degrees cooler than it had been earlier in the day.
We took a self-guided walk to visit the Far View Sites, which included Far View House, four villages and a dry reservoir (also called Mummy Lake).
Love this boy's toothless grin!
I happened to glance down at my watch at precisely 2:05 p.m. (3:05 in Texas), which is exactly the time when Will was born. We all grabbed him in a big bear hug and wished our big boy a happy 8th birthday again. We love this kid!
Far View House was our final stop.
After our last hike, we promised the boys ice cream as Will's birthday treat. Fortunately, there was ice cream available at the park and it was the perfect way to end our visit to Mesa Verde and the boys first-ever visit to a national park! Happy birthday, Will!
Back at our house, the boys relaxed and watched a movie while Gene and I hung out on the porch, reading and sketching and enjoying the quiet of Colorado.
We were so lucky this year to be able to take a second vacation, and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with wonderful friends, hiking and exploring the great outdoors, and just being together as a family. Colorado was a lovely place to visit and we can't wait to go back!
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