Mesa Verde National Park

We just visited Mesa Verde National Park and Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado over the weekend. These two were special for my family, because my wife and I had had visited the other two parks in Colorado, Rocky Mountain and Great Sand Dunes, way back in 2016. We loved both of them, and had decided to come back to the state to spend time in the other two as soon as possible.

That turned out to be 9 years. Eep.

And not just any 9 years, but a deeply significant 9 years. I suppose that 9 years is a long enough time range that it's likely to be significant for anyone, but I can only feel the enormity of the passage of time for myself - we moved states, change jobs, had kids, changed jobs again. Lots of action here.

Anyway, this was also the first time we traveled to visited National Parks after our kids where they were old enough to walk/toddle around by themselves. In fact, the older kid got her first junior ranger badge.

Again it's one of those things I'd seen other kids back when before we had kids. And there, without warning, this weekend I saw the ranger and I thought to myself, "Oh, she's old enough now. We should totally do this".

I think it's what happens when you experience things that give you joy after years. The newer context you find yourself in gives you a whole new perspective on past and current experiences.

Anyway, here's some pretty pictures: