Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah

The natural bridges encompass old age, youth, and maturity. In 1883 prospector Cass Hite wandered up White Canyon from his base camp along the Colorado River. In search of gold, he found instead three magnificent bridges water had sculpted from stone. In 1904 National Geographic Magazine publicized the bridges; in 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Natural Bridges National Monument, creating Utah's first National Park system area.

Sipapu Bridge

The Dinosaur Museum, Blanding, Utah

We were hesitant about visiting the Dinosaur Museum, but what a great museum it turned out to be. We were told that the person who donated the bones and skeletons are paleontologists who collected the specimens from around the world and donated them to the City of Blanding, which then built the building to house the dinosaur exhibits. This place is a must visit, if you are in this area. 

Allosaurus

Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Dolores, Colorado

We went to the Canyon's Visitor Center to get my passport stamped and visit the museum. We did not go to the actual monument as it was quite a drive from where we were; and it encompasses more than 170,000 acres of high desert in the southwest corner of Colorado. So the pictures I have posted were taken at the Visitor Center and Museum.

Galloping Goose, Dolores, Colorado

The Galloping Goose No. 5 was built in 1933 in the railroad's round-house in Ridgway, Colorado. Its front cab was a 1927 Pierce Arrow series 36 limousine widened to carry the motorman and passengers. The rear 24-foot trailer carried mail and freight. It was powered by a six cylinder Pierce Arrow gasoline engine.

Mesa Verde National Park, Wetherill Mesa, Mancos, Colorado

The second mesa we visited in Mesa Verde was discovered by the Wetherill family, and thus named after them. Of the five houses that one can see up close, there was only one that we decided to see. The others required tickets and a ranger led guide. The one house that we walked to see was Step House, as it was a self-guided tour. Step House had a reconstructed pithouse, petroglyphs, and a cliff dwelling. 

Mesa Verde National Park, Far View Community, Mancos, Colorado

There are a few different sections to Mesa Verde; we took two days to tour them. The first section was Chapin Mesa, which I just highlighted. The Far View Community is in also on Chapin Mesa. The next section will be Wetherill Mesa.

Far View Community is more than 750 years old. In 1050 AD, this community would have been filled with the smell of juniper smoke and sounds of everyday life. It was one of the most densely populated regions of the Mesa Verde. In the mid-1100s, there may have been at least 35 occupied villages and surrounding farm and garden plots within a half-square-mile area, including the sites in this area.

Mesa Verde National Park, Chapin Mesa, Mancos, Colorado

Mesa Verde preserves the record of the ancestral Pueblo people who made this place their home for more than 750 years. The park includes over 4,500 archeological sites; only 600 are cliff dwellings. The Pueblo people grew crops and hunted game on the mesa tops. Hand-and-toe-hold trails connected the mesa-top fields to alcove villages and canyons below. The soil was fertile and, except in drought, about as well watered as today. The ancient people cut pinyon and juniper for building materials, firewood, and to clear fields.