In 2010, my family and I took a vacation across the southern skirt of the extremely beautiful and wonderous state of Colorado. Along our way, we discovered an absolute trove of tranquil landscapes, captivating mountains, and immaculate structures left behind by the ancient people who roamed the land over a thousand of years of ago. I found it only fitting to start my Blog post with one of the most awe-inspiring buildings that I have ever seen, and in my opinion, trumps even the most studious sky scraper built in Modern times. This building was first constructed around 450 B.C. by the ancient Puebloan people of modern day south-west United States. Abandoned by its ancient inhabitants around 1200 A.D., it was rediscovered in 1888 and preserved as a National Park in 1906. All in all, Mesa Verde has over 600 stone structures and cliff dwellings throughout the national park, but the one that I am focusing on today stands above the rest as a true wonder amongst the many other structures. The Cliff Palace has an astonishing 150 rooms and is the largest cliff dwelling in the park. Having been built into a literal cliff face, the Cliff Palace has over 18 separate kivas and requires 8- 8×10 Ft ladders just to traverse its stunning exterior. When you first approach the landing area before taking the 20-foot climb down to the actual structure, you can’t help to be blown away by the sheer magnitude of the dwelling. These people were truly geniuses of their time and it was an overwhelmingly monumental task of construction given the ancient tools at their disposal. These ancient people had to be nimble and required a certain level of balance only comparable to a modern olympic gymnasts. They were a truly remarkable people and the amount of hard work and dedication that it took to build a structure of this size took not only skill, but perseverance and a will to survive. I have visited Mesa Verde and the Cliff Palace twice since my first excursion there and each time is like a brand new experience and the awe of the structures reveals a beauty unlike any other. If I had my way about it, I would take a least two trips to Mesa Verde a year and absorb all I could about this wonderful and inspiring venue.