We are in Mesa Verde National Park. It was a picture perfect day with mild temperatures and sunny blue skies - this was going to be a great day. The park is home to Ancestral Pueblo dwellings and has two main roads, only one of them is open to large vehicles. We unhooked the RV and set off to explore the Chapin Mesa drive.

The Spanish named the area Mesa Verde which means Green table since the mountains are flat like a table and have green vegetation all around. The Pueblo Indians used to farm in the flat tops of the mountain.

On our way to the Spruce Tree Terrace we stopped at the Geologic Overview. We took the short walk to the outlook where we had a great view of the mountain ranges around us. La Plata and Pikes Peak could be seen in the distance and the eye viewer brought them really close to us. At this point we were at about 8400 feet elevation. La Plata (5th highest peak) and Pike's Peak (20th on the list) are among Colorado's 47 14ers - mountain peaks above 14,000 feet in elevation.

We stopped at the Far View Area to check it out but there were no outlooks there. It is just logging and gift shop and the place where the tour busses part - I should have researched this and saved us the time.

At the Spruce Tree Terrace we visited the museum, watched the movie that described how the Ancestral Pueblo Indians lived and build their homes, and walked through Spruce House-one of the dwellings. Only two dwellings are open for self guided tours and the other one was at the end of the road we could not drive down due to the RV size. The rest of the dwellings are by tour ticket only, but require some climbing on stick ladders at heights we are not comfortable doing -so we decided to skip those.

There were other areas of the park we could have explored like the Mesa Loop drive, but at this point is was late afternoon and we wanted to drive back to Moorefield campground before it got dark. Also, the hubby would be getting hungry for dinner soon and I needed to cook today since one day of the Visitor Center Cafe food was enough for the whole trip.

On the way back right before the tunnel I spotted a bear crossing the road. There was a frantic dash to get the camera out as I barked orders for the driver to stop. We stopped at a safe distance and I began to take pictures - the camera had the wrong lens, but there was no time to change it. The bear noticing our presence stopped on his tracks and looked at us, after a minute he determined we were no threat or we were too big for him to bother, he began to climb the side of the mountain at which point we approached the area where he was and stopped once again to snap more pictures. Once again he stopped and looked back to check us out allowing me to take a few more shots. I was so excited, this was the first time ever I saw a bear in the wild.

I hope to one day return to Mesa Verde with a dinghy and a few more days to explore other areas. It is really a beautiful place.