For most, when they think of San Antonio, or visit there, they think of the Alamo, its clarion call to remember it, and perhaps that it was one of a number of missions in San Antonio spreading out across the city during New Spain colonization. If they visit the city, the mission at the Alamo, plus the downtown area of Riverwalk, are likely the first two sites they think of to spend the day, night, or afternoon. But just south of the Alamo and the center of the city sits four other missions along the Mission Trail that tell a broader story of the history of San Antonio, all of which form, along with their ranch twenty-three miles away, San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.

If you're looking for a great place to let your mind wander back to a time long ago, 600 A.D. or so, then the spectacular mesas and dwellings of the Ancestral Pueblo people perched on the cliffs of Mesa Verde are a good place to start. With dwellings high in the mountains, many which require a climb up ladders, you can imagine the Indian culture that lasted in the area for seven hundred years, and the situation that the inhabitants of these homes lived in. They built these homes for protection. They built these homes for heritage. They built these Colorado homes using the natural wonders of the region in summer and winter, without the need for a heater and worry about middle eastern oil prices.