Check mark on my bucket list!

 The end of Day One was spectacular. We drove out into the middle of the desert (didn't go all the way to Natural Bridges National Monument because it was late by the time we got to Blanding) and it was DARK. Holy cow, the Milky Way was breathtaking. There is really no adequate way to describe it. And unfortunately, no pictures either, because it's very difficult to take pictures of the night sky, and none of mine turned out. But I could have sat out there gazing at the night sky for hours. We also got to see the Perseid meteor shower, which is always fun. Most of them were little, brief blips, but I did get to see one bright, long one that was gorgeous.

Day Two was AWESOME!

I have wanted to visit Mesa Verde in southwestern Colorado for 30 years. And yesterday, I finally did it! I wish I could have spent several days there, although the rest of the family was more than happy to be done by the time we left. I just find it so fascinating! There is a self-guided tour you can do along Mesa Top Loop that walks you (drives you) through 700 years of the ancestral Pueblos and how their lifestyles changed along with their style of dwellings. It was so amazing to see how their skills grew and evolved. And there are so many unanswered questions. Why did they choose to live in the cliffs? HOW did they build such elaborate structures in the side of a cliff wall? Why did they leave? It just makes me want to know more and more.

We didn't get to go to the Four Corners Monument, because it is apparently run by the Navajo tribe, which has been very hard-hit with COVID-19, so the monument was closed. That was a bummer, but all in all, it was probably for the best, because it let me spend more time at Mesa Verde. :-) I definitely want to go back some day and see the parts of the park that were closed. Maybe camp there for a week or so! And then go down to Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, because that area has close ties to Mesa Verde. Maybe I want to go back to school and study archeology/anthropology!

I made the mistake of waiting too long to try to find an RV park last night, so we had to backtrack about half an hour to find a park that was still open. But it was a REALLY nice park called The Views in Dolores, Colorado. The campground was covered in trees, and each site was spaced really far apart. I would have liked to have spent more time there. Maybe when we go back to Mesa Verde someday....

Now we are on Day Three, and we have been driving since about 7 this morning. The A/C still isn't working great in the RV, but we have been able to keep things tolerable by opening windows. We have seen some spectacular scenery--amazing cliffs, hoodoos, buttes, forests, and LaMar even saw a black bear cub. We are about to arrive at Santa Fe, New Mexico, where we are going to walk around and be touristy for awhile, and then press on to Amarillo, Texas. And that reminds me, I better go try to get a reservation at an RV park there!

I will post pictures later on tonight. So many spectacular pictures at Mesa Verde! You may get tired of them. But I sure won't!