USA: Colorado

After being in a desert for a while we were aching to head north to greener pastures, but before that there was one stop that we needed to visit in the south, a national park called Mesa Verde.

Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde is centered around the remains of a civilization that existed about a thousand years ago. They built towns nestled in the sheer cliffs of the mountain range which sheltered them from the weather. This is why the towns were still in such good condition when they were discovered in the early 20th century, one thousand years after they were built. There were enough intact buildings to restore the towns without much guesswork, although some things still remain a mystery such as the reason that the towns were abandoned suddenly and forgotten.

You actually get to climb up a cliff and explore one of the towns which was restored completely.

There were also some holes in the ground that have archaeological significance but are much less interesting to look at.

Heading North

As you head north in Colorado it gets much more mountainous and green. There are idyllic towns nestled in the valleys that look like model railway sets.

We stopped in at supermarket for some supplies and found a new definition of reading.

On the way we also found a cool little theme park on top of a mountain that is accessed by a cable car. We explored some cave systems, rode a rollercoaster down the side of the mountain and rode a giant swing over a cliff.

The next day we camped at another beautiful state park. We went white water rafting at Glenwood Springs that day past old mines that looked like the wild west attraction at Movie World but alas there are no photos as we were too busy trying to avoid falling out of the boat.

Arriving at Denver the next day we camped at an RV park on the outskirts and wrote a blog post.

We had an amazing time in Denver but for some reason took absolutely no photos. There are more breweries in Colorado than any other state in the United States and a good portion of them are in Denver. We were touring the breweries, getting a tasting paddle at each one, when at one brewery we asked the bartender some the rules of baseball as it was on TV. Overhearing us, a man sitting next to us at the bar gave us some free tickets to a baseball game because he had a set that he got from work for free. Turns out that is was a game that was about to start just a few blocks down the road at Coors Stadium, the home stadium of the Colorado rockies. We had a great time learning the nuances of the game while sitting next to him and his girlfriend. We do have one short video to show for our night in Denver.