Mesa Verde - May 11, 2008

You all have to come here.

That is not a suggestion.

The climate is perfect. The scenery is gorgeous. The hikes are incredible. Photos don't do justice to the archaeological sites.

There are no bugs.

Plus, for those of us who come from states with only a single National Park, it's somewhat mind-boggling to discover that there are approximately nine million National Park Service units within easy driving distance of Mesa Verde.

My coworkers, Dante (from New York), Brad (from North Carolina), and David (from California, who has worked here for the last two years) all seem very nice, with similar taste in hiking and movies to mine.

Last weekend we visited Hovenweep National Monument, about an hour from here, which also has some breathtaking sights, and is significantly less crowded than Mesa Verde (where you have to see each of the main ruins as part of a tour with a hundred other people - unless you have an NPS employee with you, to get you in during the off-hours. Heh-heh).

Oh, and there's some great bike rides around here too.

Now granted, my employment, at least for the first few months, is likely to consist largely in spraying toxic chemicals on invasive plants, which means I could potentially still be miserable for 40 hours a week. (Thanks be to mp3 players).

But I expect to have some pretty awesome weekends.