Spring Break Trip Day 2 - Part 2

After continuing further down the road, you end up at Cliff Palace.  This is the largest of all structures in Mesa Verde and is quite impressive.  There was a five mile round trip hike that would take you to the ledge right above the Palace, but we decided to look at it from across the canyon.

One last stop in the park was at the Sun Temple.  It is kind of a unique structure as compared to the other cliff dwellings.  It has double lined walls and sits out in the open with a few walkways and circular portions of it.  This picture above is looking through one of the windows down a hallway.  After concluding the Mesa Verde loop, we angled toward the Four Corners National Monument.

This monument is not actually super impressive, but does check the bucket list items at least.  Here is Gage with his arms and legs each in a different state.  Tara and Gavin opted for a less touristy pose and are just upright.  The monument is really quite small, though much improved since Tara and I visited the place almost 15 years ago.  Actually, if I remember correctly, we never ended up going in but rather drove by as they wanted to charge us just to park and walk over to this spot.  At least now they have a nice paved central area with stations for artisans to sell crafts.  Some much needed bathroom improvements were also under construction.

After our wallets were $20 dollars lighter from the Four Corners excursion, we were off to head west to Page, Arizona where we would spend night number two.  Along the way, we saw many amazing land features and rocky outcroppings.  This is one of dozens that were certainly amazing to look at.