20240916 EF Go Ahead National Parks Bus Tour Day 5/20 - Mesa Verde, Bluff Fort, and Monument Valley

American West Bus Tour Day 5/20 - Colorado, Utah, and Arizona, oh my!

As promised, there was nothing resembling a usable internet service available last night so yesterday's blog went up today. After catching up with that, on to today's adventures.

*Boom* *Crash* *Repeat*

That's what we woke to this morning as an active thunderstorm pounded the top of Mesa Verde in the early hours. Lucky for us, we caught a lull when we were supposed to get our bags and ourselves down to the bus. It was chilly and windy so adding wet into the equation wasn't pleasant.

We rode to the Far View Terrace Restaurant for breakfast. They were a little overwhelmed with multiple tour groups so the buffet breakfast and omelet station were exceedingly slow. Still, everyone eventually got fed. We also met today's local guide, Mark, who would guide us through Mesa Verde.

We were still dodging raindrops as we made our first stops to examine pithouses and Pueblos. Over the morning, we made several stops at early Pueblo homes, from pit houses to kivas - all hand-dug with sticks - that housed multiple families. There were different styles of log roofs, depending on the style of the home. One common element was a hole in the roof that let out the smoke from the 24-hour cooking fire inside the home.

Multiple families lived here under a suspended wooden log roof

Designs evolved over time

Pithouses evolved into kivas

The larger hole was a tunnel to the other side

The opposite side of the tunnel

Here we are looking into the cooking pit with actual ash from centuries ago

We moved on to the next style of home - cliff dwellings. They were amazing.

We didn't see them at first, but the more we looked, we saw homes all over

Mark pointed out this set of petrified worm paths

Look closely at the arch

Windows and walls

Cliff Palace is behind us

It was amazingly complex

More windows

Look to the left of that white boulder

These two windows were part of a 15-room complex

More views of Cliff Palace

More structures

Sun Palace is located on top of the hill

We went across to the Sun Temple.

It was built so that the sun would shine directly into these windows on equinoxes.

The view into the valley from the temple

There was one more vantage point for excellent views of Cliff Palace.

A different tour

After our time at the cliff dwellings, we returned to Far View Terrace for lunch or a snack before leaving Mesa Verde.

On the way out of the park, we stopped at the welcome center so a couple of passengers could get park stamps in their National Park Passports.

Our last look at Mesa Verde

An interesting sculpture at the center

Back on the road, we passed through a Colorado weigh station and got flagged. Robin pulled the bus in and found out that they required some sort of entry paperwork for the State - something she had never been asked to do before. After an unplanned 20-minute delay, we were on our way again.

We passed into Utah

Shortly after entering Utah, we came to another stop. This lone flagman held us for about 15 minutes. A short line of traffic finally came from the other direction and we were on our way.

We never figured out what they were doing

We continued loving the sights along the way. Much of the drive today, including our stop this evening, was in the Navajo Nation.

Geoff told us about the Mormon history of the area and the story of the 250 Mormon pioneers who chiseled through these massive stone hills.

We made a comfort stop at Bluff Fort, a settlement created by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to honor their Morman heritage and the Hole In The Rock settlers.

One of the original wagons they used to cross the country

With relieved bladders, we continued the push toward Monument Valley.

You can see Mexican Hat on the left side

We made a Forrest Gump stop at the place where Forrest ended his three-year run in Monument Valley.

Steve, Bus Captain Robin's bus companion got into the act

We continued rolling into the monuments.

Tour Director, Geoff, managed to score us a visit to The View, a hotel with postcard-worthy views of several of the monuments.

The light was shifting every minute

Finally, perfect light on all three

One mitten

The other mitten

We hit the road again for Kayenta, Arizona, in the heart of the Navajo Nation. 

A warm welcome was waiting on the TV in our room at the Hampton Inn

We also enjoyed a nice buffet dinner at the hotel. No alcohol was available as the entire Navajo Nation is dry - there is no alcohol available anywhere.

After dinner, we walked next door to Burger King at Geoff's suggestion. They have an impressive display honoring the Navajo Code talkers. We'll get more into that tomorrow as we are scheduled to meet with Pater MacDonald, a 96-year-old Navajo Code Talker from WWII.

Now, it's time to sleep as tomorrow will be another busy and fun day.