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Showing posts with the label ruins

Montezuma Castle

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We’ve been driving by the exit sign for Montezuma Castle for two years.   We never took the time to stop and explore until this past weekend.   What an interesting place.   Montezuma Castle National Monument is about 50 miles south of Flagstaff, Arizona off I-17.   Big exit sign!   We parked and walked up to the visitor center to be greeted by a Desert Grassland Whiptail Lizard.   It seemed he was just waiting to be photographed!   The Greeter - Desert Grassland Whiptail The path from the Visitor Center was fairly short and the cliff we saw was very high.   The castle is a 5 story, 20 room dwelling built into the cliff recess 100 feet above the valley.   The Southern Sinagua farmers began building in the 1100’s Common Era.   It’s funny how places get named.   The early settlers assumed this place was Aztec in origin and named it Montezuma Castle.   We now know that Montezuma never came this far north from his home in Mexico.   Down the path a bit is another building complex

The End of the Utah- Arizona Summer Vacation

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Our last stops were the national monuments of Wupatki and Sunset Crater.   Besides just enjoying saying the name ‘Wupatki’ we really enjoyed seeing this pueblo and the exhibits.   Wupatki is north of Flagstaff, Arizona in the shadow of Sunset Crater.   Today occasional earthquake tremors still get residents attention.   The remains of the pueblos in this area are from the 1100’s when the people banded together to build a farming community.   Sunset Crater’s eruption left a thin coat of ash that enriched the soil by absorbing moisture and preventing evaporation.   By 1180 thousands of people were farming here.   By 1250 the buildings stood empty and the people had moved on.   Some resettled in areas close by and their descendants still live in the area.    Artist's concept of the original pueblo  Ruins Today I found the techniques of building with rock interesting.  There was a variety of natural color, shapes, textures and craftsmanship. The rock work combined