At the first stop on our tour of Mesa Verde, we ran into Sue or as Terri refers to her, “the Bird Lady”. She is an avid bird watcher and a volunteer at the park. She has been keeping an eye on a Golden Eagle fledgling. She had a high powered scope and allowed us to take a peak. A Golden Eagle has a wing span of 6 feet. Mama Eagle was flying above us. I could not get a pic because she was so high. This was a great moment for Terri, as she has recently taken an interest in birds..
Sue reported the fledgling was ready to leave the nest any time now. She told us about a bird app called Sibley. It will actually do bird calls, but Sue cautioned us to use it responsibly because when you call birds, predators may follow…
The next person we met along the way was this gentleman who was from Germany.
Earlier, I had offered to take a photo of him and his wife. We hiked up a steep incline to a fire tower, the view was expansive.
This was the highest point and not only did this gentleman decide to do push ups, he ran up to the fire tower. His daughter was taking photos of him exercising. Perhaps for an article in German Association of Retired Persons, GARP? I didn’t ask, my German is rusty.
We were still at the fire tower when a husband was taking pictures of his wife. Terri decided to photo bomb the moment and put her arm around the wife. Terri directed the husband to snap the photo of his wife and her new friend. At first the husband was speechless, then the wife said, “I like spontaneity, go ahead.”
This was such a fun moment. I got permission to post the photo. They introduced themselves as Barbara and John. Barbara is originally from Pittsburgh and her brother lives in Latrobe! Another Pennsylvania connection- in our back yard!. The other Pennsylvania connection was Bernie, the owner of the Cortez/Mesa Verde KOA. He is originally from Loretta PA.
Utah is currently experiencing several devastating fires. From Colorado, you can see the smoke from one of the major fires.
As of today, there is one close to ZIon NP and restrictions are in place. It has been so dry and the majority of fires are human caused. There was a fire a few years back on the mountain where the fire tower is located-
This was the view for several miles. Sad. So sad…
Some additional pics from Mesa Verde:
