Montezuma's Well

Montezuma's Well is a few miles up the road from the old ruins, which are really quite large!  They only look small because they are perched up on the side of a cliff.  The well feeds the Beaver Creek, which runs along the base of the cliff with the ruins.  I didn't read it, but hubby told me the well spews out one million gallons of water AN HOUR and has ever since mankind has been around!  Wow!  That's amazing!  There are ruins along the well, too, built into the cliff.  Hubby remarked that these were probably houses that belonged to the people guarding the well (he's always thinking that way...) so that those down below would have a steady flow of water.  I guess that makes sense..And, I did read that only about 30 people lived here..Anyway, it was a very unique feature and I'm glad we stopped.  You can take a walk down some steps to the stream, but by that time of day, my knee was really bothering me.  I figured I'd be okay going down, but probably would be screaming by the time I had to turn around and go back up, so I didn't go at all.  Someday....The last photo shows the steps going down to the river...

Montezuma's Castle~Windows and Doors~040912

I'm just completely fascinated with Montezuma's Castle and can't wait to return to visit it again.  It is set in such a beautiful area and Beaver Creek runs alongside it.  You can just imagine the Indians who lived there and tended their crops along the river.  I wanted to include it for today's Whimsical Windows and Delirious Doors, since they are both so unusual.Whimsical Windows and Delirious Doors for Monday, April 9, 2012. To visit WWDD, please go to:  http://iwishiwereaphotographer.blogspot.com/2012/04/whimsical-windows-delirious-doors-19.html  If you want to read more about Montezuma's Castle, I did a post on it a couple of days ago.  You can find it on the sidebar of this blog.

Tizigoot ruins, central Arizona

We drove through Cottonwood, AZ today and then out to the Tizigoot ruins.  We had never stopped there before and we had no idea what to expect.  At this site, however, you can actually walk up to the ruins and even go through an opening to the rooftop viewing platform!  HA!  Me and my sore knee actually made it up to the roof!  (...happy dance...) Coming down was a...er...dilemna, however, and I had to hang on to the rail CAREFULLY!  But, the views of the Verde valley were spectacular!  The Indians had a prolific water source in the Verde River and had flat land to farm 360 degrees around them.  They also had a wonderful view of the surrounding areas and would have been able to see other tribes coming.  It was interesting and informative to stop here and I'm glad we stopped there, even though it was extremely windy and hubby's hat blew off twice!

Arizona sycamores~Nature Notes~040412

In my previous post, I talked about Montezuma's Castle, which is in central Arizona, near Camp Verde.  But, before we even saw the ruins, I was amazed by the Arizona sycamores which stretched their naked, stark branches toward the blue sky.  Wow!  How beautiful they were, even in winter! The whole area around Montezuma's Castle (see previous post) was surrounded by these amazing trees.  And, they lined the banks of the Beaver River, which flowed not far from the ruins.  I was so amazed by them I nearly forgot to look up and see the ruins!  Nature Notes for April 4, 2012.  To visit Nature Notes, please go to:  http://ramblingwoods.com/

Montezuma's Castle, Arizona

For the first time EVER, hubby suggested we pull off the highway (highway 89) and stop at Montezuma's Castle.  Do you know how many times we have driven by it and have NEVER stopped?  A LOT...We pulled in about 10:00 a.m. and clouds were gathering above.  Otherwise it was a nice day.  It wasn't too crowded there and with hubby's National Park pass, we were able to walk right in.  I was surprised and impressed by the beauty of the ruins.  They are up high on a cliff and were built about 1100 A.D. and were used for about 300 years, when the inhabitants suddenly disappeared.  There is a river nearby, the Beaver Creek, so the inhabitants had a plentiful water source to irritate their crops.  You would never know it is there, just driving by...it is so well tucked away into the canyon. This site was much more interesting than the crumbled ruins near Lynx Lake.  Apparently this one was better protected from the elements because it IS built right into the cliff.  You can still see windows and doorways of it and I tried to zoom in on a few of them, and I'll post those photos later.  I'm so glad that we finally stopped to see this marvelous ruin!

Lynx Lake, Prescott ~040312

Hubby and I drove out to Lynx Lake this morning about 10:00.  We got a late start (unfortunately).  I like to skip breakfast, get dressed and go, but hubby was having issues at work and had to stay on the cell phone to resolve them...sigh...Anyway, neither one of us had ever seen Lynx Lake before.  It's on a side road near Prescott (the road is actually right across from the Residence Inn where we are staying!).  We drove all the way down the road and turned around and then came back to view the south view and the north view of the lake.  We really liked the south view.  We saw white ducks there and a goose, as well as other ducks and a few cormorants.  The water level was very low because Prescott, too, is having a mild winter.  There were picnic tables at the two exits and I wanted to buy some sandwiches and return there toward evening...maybe another night.

Me and the grandson

Well, I'm on hubby's laptop because mine is having Internet problems...sigh...again...I was going through his photos and I found these two, which are two of my favorites.  Yes, it's me and the grandson.  I am now a doting grandmother who enjoys taking the grandson to explore new things and places.  He loves going to the Living Desert Reserve in Palm Desert and we took him there a couple of weekends ago to see the trains.  We ended up spending quite a bit of time at the kids' play area, where he had a blast!  There were slides and a mud pie-making station and lots of kids to play with!  What fun!