Stop 3, Mesa Verde National Park

We left Grand Canyon Wednesday morning and drove through Arizona's Navajo Reservation to Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park (303 miles). It was at times very dismal looking but also at times very beautiful. We stopped at Four Corners - what a silly place. They charge $6 per person (kids free, or we wouldn't have stopped at all) and it's just a funny concrete monument with flags surrounded by a dirt road turnaround and outlined with shacks for the Navajo to sell their wares. We did have to try the Navajo fry bread. It's like a big flat churro without the sugar. Pretty tasty. This was a view out the front of the van looking toward our destination - yep, you guessed it, thunderstorms...
It rained on us as we were entering the park and it looked for a while like we were all sleeping in the van that night, but it stopped raining just long enough for Chris to throw up the tent. He slept well, albeit by himself that night. The next morning, after drying out a bit, we took a drive and then a walk to see the cliff dwellings. These flowers were abundant - not sure what they are, except stunning in the landscape.
Here we are at the cliff dwelling.
And on the way out of the park, I stopped to capture some of the evidence of a fairly recent burn. Next stop... Ouray, Colorado.