Colorado - Canyon of the Ancients National Monument

We did a drive to Canyon of the Ancients National Monument. This area has over 8,300 documented archeological sites (with 30,000 still not documented). It spans over 12,000 years!

There is a loop drive to take you around the area. We stopped at the Lowery Pueblo site, where we could walk up close the the Pueblo built in the 8th century. This is a 1,000-year-old ancestral Puebloan site, which includes a 40-room village. The Lowry Pueblo site was first excavated in 1931 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1967. The Field Museum in Chicago was instrumental in the excavation of this site. Very cool to see this up close.

It was an interesting drive through the Canyon of the Ancients. Much if it was farm land between the ruins. The dirt here is bright red. there were interesting crops being grown as well. There was a whole field of purple flowering plants. Not sure what they were.

Then we drove to Hand Painted Pueblo for a short hike to see some of the ruins there. a Hiker stopped by as we were sitting taking in the view and offered to take our picture. Everyone here is so nice!

We also checked out Hovenweep National Monument. Here there are a collection of puebloan communities set in the rim of the canyons.

Drove back to Cortez for lunch. I was craving a cold margarita. After a quick search, I found a place called La Casita. It was rated as the best margarita in the area. We each ordered a margarita, but the waitress recommended that we order a picture. It would be more economical. So we did. Curiously, it came with a shot of Grand Mariner. Our server explained that we could sip it slowly with our margarita or pour it in and mix. We poured ours in. The margarita was excellent! There was extra by the end of the meal, so we filled our water bottles with the remaining margarita and took it to go.

We drove back into Mesa Verde National Park and took our time to enjoy the drive back to the lodge. After a quick nap, we drove to the Park Point Overlook. This is the highest viewpoint on the mesa. We brought some snacks and cocktails and enjoyed the sunset. Another great day.