From Meteor Crater, we drove to the Hampton Inn in Cortez, CO. This is about a 15 minute drive to the entrance to Mesa Verde, our next destination.
Louanne was feeling a bit worn out, so I dropped her off at the hotel, and headed to the Mesa in the hopes of catching some sunset photos. To my surprise, the Mesa afforded some extraordinary views of the Rocky Mountains. To the East was Hesperus Mountain (of the San Juan Mountain Range). To the North, were Dunn Peak, Middle Peak, and Dolores Peak, and Lone Cone Mountain. and even To the West was the Black Mountain. The best place for the panoramic view is from the Park Point North Lookout (map link), which is a 35 minute drive from Cortez.
One of the things that surprised me was the changing light and weather. I was only there for one evening and one morning, but you can see a huge variety in the lighting and cloud cover in my photos.