Mesa Verde National Park

We spent a day in Mesa Verde National Park in the southwest corner of Colorado, which is somewhat smoky due to the forest fires a few hundred miles to the east of us. The forest is alive with the song of the local breed of cicadas which have hatched this year. We're very lucky to be visiting during a cicada year, otherwise we'd have to wait another seventeen years to be repulsed by these big, disgusting grasshoppers-on-steroids.

Unlike the previous parks we've visited, the focus here at Mesa Verde is on archaeology instead of geology. The highlight of the park is the famous Cliff Palace, a 800 year-old Pueblo site.

Today is Independence Day here in the home of the free and land of the brave. We're heading into the nearest town, Cortez, to watch the celebration and fireworks. I will be quite disappointed if we don't get flag-adorned mobility scooters and gaudy stars-n-stripes collared shits.

America... f*ck yeah!

(July 4, 2013)