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As we crossed the Mississippi at Dubuque IA, we spotted this neat old building - the county courthouse
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Finally, we've been to Kansas! Only four states to go . . .
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In Abilene, KS, the boyhood home of President Eisenhower
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The Eisenhower Library and Museum complex includes this "Meditation Place", where Ike & Mamie are buried
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Ike and Mamie around the time of their wedding . . .
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The museum contains lots of memorabilia . . .
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These patriotic quilts cought Judy's eye
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Some of the memorabilia were from the Germans of WW2, including those rope boots - insulation for a cold winter
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End of the war! Great pose . .
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Our second visit to Colorado - in two consecutive years
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At Mesa Verde Nat'l Park, leftovers from wildfires
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Looking down the hill from the highest point in the park - about 8400 ft
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There are spectacular views - the park is atop a mesa
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Mule deer were not particularly shy - these across the road from our campsite
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That's what we came to see - an impressive assortment of prehistoric native dwellings
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These are in the Far View area, where about 50 villages have been identified
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The circular kivas were probably ceremonial rooms.
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These appear to be areas used for the pounding and grinding of corn
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These villages were occupied from around 900 to 1300 AD.
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Only a few of the 50 villages have been excavated and stabilized
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We were surprised to learn that there is no new excavating of sites within the park
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Our guide Mike shows one of the few petroglyphs in the park
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Cliff dwellings are among the newest dwellings in the park, being built and occupied for just 200 years until about 1300 AD
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For the most part, these structures have not been rebuilt and are maintained much as they were found
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Corn ginding stations
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We were able to get into two of the cliff dwellings on our various tours. This is the Spruce Tree House
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The dwellings were largely abandoned by 1300AD as the residents migrated south to Arizona and Mexico
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Building under these overhangs offered considerable protection from the weather
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Even though they lived beneath the cliff, they still farmed the land on top of the mesa, climbing out every day
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The museum displays these early 20th century Navaho blankets
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The display shows the kinds of looms used to weave the blankets
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Some of us appreciated the benches . . .
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This corn and the vessel it was found in date to around 1275AD. At 31 lbs, it's the largest cache of prehistoric corn ever found
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The label says it all . .
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We stopped for lunch at a picnic ground favored by these free-roaming horses
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The Cliff Palace is the park's largest clif dwelling at about 300 rooms. We didn't climb down to it.
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Some people did climb down . . .
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The base of a tower. Nobody knows what these towers were used for
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The "Sun Temple" probably wasn't a temple, but the building was never finished. Nobody knows why
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Most of the park was carved out of Ute indian lands, where there are lots more ancient dwellings
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The mesas are spectacular from almost every angle
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The Long House is the second cliff dwelling we visited
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It's about a half-mile walk into the canyon, and the "house" has over 200 rooms
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Many of the rooms were probably used for storage. About 125 people probably lived here
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It's fascinating to imagine what life was like 900 years ago
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Impressions of corn cobs found in the floor of one room . . .
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The rangers were very careful about where in the dwelling we could walk and climb
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The residents probably made extensive use of ladders . . .
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There are several pit houses, dating to around 650AD, the oldest known structures in the park
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You gotta stop and see the flowers. We did
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Several of the pit houses are protected by shelters that prevent further deterioration.
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Another example of a tower
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Some pit houses have been excavated more than others
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This one has multiple kivas, suggesting it was central to many other dwellings
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The hole is to a tunnel connecting to that tower in the background. Nobody knows why it's there
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Some of these pit houses were very complex
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Almost every cliff seems to have a dwelling. There are over 4,000 archeological sites in the park
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Momentary diversion
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This multi-story building has at least 6 levels - note the eagle's nest, upper right
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Another kiva, another tunnel
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Another cliff, another dwelling . . .
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Toe-hand holds are obvious here - an alternative to using a ladder.
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The Indians consider these sites to be sacred, which is why the park no longer excavates them
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Only a relative handful of the sites within the park have visitor access
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We could have stayed and looked for days. But we moved on . . .
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We wanted to see those spectacular sandstone sculptures . . .
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We were not disappointed
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Even before we got to Moab, we saw some neat natural rock carvings
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Yep - we're still on planet Earth. Our GPS says we are . . .
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Wilson Arch is right along US191 about 20 miles south of Moab
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From our RV site north of Moab, we could see the Window Arches inside Arches Nat'l Park
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National parks are some of the best tourist values around - especially with our Senior Access Passes
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Lots of elevation changes in the park
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These are some spectacular rocks
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Still seems like we must be on another planet
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There are lots of precariously balanced rocks about
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Lots of "Oh Wow!" moments
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This formation is called Courthouse Towers
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The Three Gossips . . .
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Early visitors gave most of these formations fanciful names
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Our first arch in the park! Kind of small, at the bottom of that formation on the left
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A better view of the "Little Arch"
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An area known as the Petrified Dunes
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The other side of the twin Window Arches we can see from our RV site
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Formations are formed over many years by combinations of wind and water erosion
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That's a big arch - see the people at the bottom?
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Looks like approaching rain - but it missed us
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A double arch on this side - a single from the other side. Those two openings converge
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Some are arches, some are caves. The distinctions are sometimes subtle
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As this is called "The Cove of Caves", these are probably caves
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This is a double arch - pretty amazing
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Part of the "Parade of elephants"
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Another view of the Window Arches - with a spare just right of the right-hand one
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South Window Arch has a smaller "cousin" arch alongside
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We probably saw about 40 arches in our park visit - and undoubtedly missed a bunch as we drove about
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That's the same arch depicted on the Utah welcome sign - only from the other side
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The park is laced with hiking trails for folks more limber than we . . .
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Some arches required a bit of a walk, some were visible from the road
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Skyline Arch roughly doubled in size in 1940 when a huge boulder fell out of the left side of the opening
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Judy got to the base of Skyline Arch for this shot
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We were blessed with wonderful weather our whole time in Utah
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The start of Devil's Garden Trail
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Two old things in the desert
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So many arches, so little energy . .
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Another two-fer shot
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You can see why we wanted to come here
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Views within views
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Judy likes to frame her pictures - and here the frame IS the picture . . .
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Softer rocks wear away more quickly, sometimes creating arches
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Sometimes the remaining rock is a pillar or a spine
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A little north of Moab, these are dinosaur footprints in a former sandbar! They're about 150 million years old.
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They said water would make them more visible, but it just made them wet
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This is the print of a 3-toed raptor-type dinosaur, probably an Allosaur
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The bigger dents in the rock are tracks of a much bigger brontosaur-type animal
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Moab is fortunate to be near two spectacular national parks
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Canyonlands features some spectacular mesas and, of course, canyons
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Carved out by the Colorado River, which went on to dig the Grand Canyon a few hundred miles downstream
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Judy tended to stay back from the cliff edges
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It's hard to imagine how much water was needed to scour out these canyons
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We saw lots of small rock cairns left by visitors . .
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There are many places where 4-wheel drive and a steady steering wheel are essential
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Not as deep or long as the Grand Canyon, but no less spectacular
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There's the river way down there . . .
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It's about a half-mile off the road to the Mesa Arch, right on the edge of a cliff
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A few feet behind Judy, a dropoff of a couple hundred feet . .
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Another view within a view
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We took too many pictures, of course
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Absolutely spectacular
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We stitched together this panorama to try to capture the vista of the canyon
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Early pioneers thought this was useless land.
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In fact, much of the uranium for the original atomic bombs was mined in this area
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We visited just one corner of the park. There's a whole lot we didn't see . . .
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We'll end on our Good Deed of the Day - snapping a photo for these kids from Australia