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<\/a>Our shadows inside the house walls at Mesa Verde, Colorado<\/p><\/div>\n
Yesterday, Dan, his parents and I took a day trip to Mesa Verde National Park in the Four Corners area of Southwest Colorado.\u00a0 We had a pleasant afternoon drive with a picnic interrupted by a band of black clouds backed by cold winds at the highest point of the Mesa at about 8,700 feet.\u00a0 We resumed our picnic at lower elevation in amongst the pinon and juniper trees.<\/p>\n
<\/a>The village ruins are tucked under a massive cliff…!<\/p><\/div>\n
I hadn’t been to Mesa Verda since the first time in Summer 1989 on my return move back to Alaska from spending a couple of years in New Mexico.\u00a0 About 10 years ago there were many major fires that swept through the Four Corners region; Mesa Verde was not immune.\u00a0 Though as we drove through the 20-mile drive up to the “Spruce Tree” ruins (which are pictured here), it was amazing how the landscape had been making a come-back; how forgiving is our Earth — the forest continued to grow regardless of the skeletal remains of the burnt trees.\u00a0 Because I am a natural-born harvester, I kept thinking about how much the dead trees were just going to rot; there was so much firewood to collect!<\/p>\n