Mesa Verde National Park

After leaving Canyonlands we arrived at Cortez Co around 3pm. Checked into our hotel and then raced over to Mesa Verde NP.  After you leave the visitors center at the entrance of the park you have to drive up this mountain with many switchbacks.  The village ruins are around 25 miles away from the visitors center.  It was a long and slow drive.  To take a tour of the ruins you had to buy tickets.  But since we arrived late in the day no tickets were available.  So we could only see the ruins from an observation point looking down.

   
Is that all there is here? Back down the mountain, got a pizza and returned to the hotel around 8pm.  I was tired.  And somewhat dreading the long 350 mile drive to the Grand Canyon.