ArboursAbroad contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. If you purchase using one of the affiliated links, we may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. See our Disclosure Policy for more information.
When we woke up on the side of the street it was still raining. We got out and ran to the gas station to freshen up, then got on the road to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. It rained, no poured, this entire drive. Literally it was raining so hard and we hadn’t showered in a few days so we legitimately debated getting out and showering in the rain. We ended up not doing so because there was never a good private spot to get out. Before getting into the park, we stopped in a little town and topped off the fluids in our car at the jiffy lube, and finally had a quick break in the rain so we put on our new #zippyadventure sticker on the car.
We pulled into Mesa Verde and sat in the car for a bit while we FaceTimed Mary and prayed that the rain would let up. It definitely didn’t, but what perfect timing for it to be raining that hard. We were at a national park that didn’t matter what the weather was like on the outside because we would be going and exploring cliff dwellings and would be completely covered by the cliff above us. Yes, Mesa Verde is a national park that is unlike any other. This national park has hundreds of “cliff dwellings” – awesome architecture that was built into the cliffs for safety purposes. The people that lived there were living on top of the mesa, but things were going south quickly, so they began building communities inside the cliffs.
The architecture here gave us a slight peek into what Machu Picchu will look like.
We took two tours through two of the major dwellings, and then went to one that was accessible without a guide and got to explore at our own pace and really imagine what it would be like to live in something like this.
After finishing up there, we found a picnic area where we could have dinner and then jumped back on the road. On the drive down we were able to see a beautiful sunset from the tops of the mountains, and got to see the valley beneath us without the rain and fog that were surrounding us just a few hours before.
